City of the Scorpion
by scorpiaux
Summary: Intimacy, secrets, mystery and hate. All of the 8th house, all of a new comer named Scorpio who brings with her a horrid past and Slade's new apprentices. Will the Titans be able to save her, or will she follow those who came before?
1. Chapter 1: Unlocked

**Disclaimer I do not own Teen Titans**

**Chapter 1: Found**

Raven was on the roof of Titans Tower, in her locus form, around midnight, meditating, cleansing her thoughts. Slowly she cleared her mind of the business from the day, which hadn't had ended since morning. For some reason she had thought a lot about Malchior. Embarrassment followed her since that day: her sudden interest in the oppostie gender, her friends seeing what a fool Malchior had taken her for, and the blissful hug that had escaped the confines of her shoulders onto Beast Boy's neck. She would force herself not to think about it again.

What bothered Raven most was the fact that she had no one to talk to abou it. She wanted to get everything off her chest and she couldn't. Slowly it was building up, and Raven couldn't do anything about it. Her current friends had always expected her to be strong, unmovable, indifferent...so vague and deep that Raven couldn't break the surface.

She sighed to herself and focused on the waves below, crashing and thrashing in an endless motion. Raven smiled slightly to herself. The weather was dark and damp...it anything it was her type of environment. Suddenly her train of thought was broken by an extremely large wave that deposited something...something...

Raven burst through the doors of the main room, surprised to see that all of her friends were still awake and going about the day as if normal.

"Hey Raven," Robin said casually. "Anything wrong?"

Out of breath Raven walked up to him, Beast Boy and Cyborg tapping madly at their controllers. "Something...something on the east coast of the island. The waves..." Raven took a deep breath. "The waves left something on the coast. It could be trash but it could be dangerous."

Robin smiled and touched Raven's shoulder lightly. "Good thinking Raven. We should go check it out."

"Dude! That's the third time Stafire's beaten you! It's my turn!" Beast Boy shouted at Cyborg. Apparently Starfire had been quite good at the "video gaming" that she had always watched. "IT'S MY TURN CYBORG!"

Robin wrinkled his nose and turned to Raven. "Maybe we should just go. I don't want to get in the middle of this..." Raven merely nodded and they were off.

The weather was horrible, to say the least. The wind was strong and the darkness was too much to go by. If Cyborg or Stafire had come with them they would've been able to see better. Robin pulled out his communicator and used it as a flashlight.

"Where did you say you saw this?" Robin asked, doubtfully by the sound of it.

"Over there, by the boulder." Raven pointed and the wind blew her hood into her face. "Ugh...Let's just go and check. This weather is awful." They could barely hear each other but they understood. Robin nodded and they trudged to the area.

Raven couldn't see anything, but then Robin flashed the light at a shallow crevace in the boulder, and Raven couldn't believe her eyes.

"Dear Azar! Robin, look!"

Shocked, Robin ran to the cravace and his mask grew as wide as it could grow.

In the crevace was a small girl, no older than 14, unconscience and floating peacefully on the murky water. She looked dead, but Raven could tell she wasn't, for her skin still maintained color. It was a milky tan, slightly blue from the cold. Her hair was darker than the night sky and it reached her shoulders with ease. The only article of clothing she had on was a thin cloak that was ripped and tattered from the bottom. It covered her delicate shoulders and her slightly risen chest down to her knees.

"Robin...we have to do something," Raven said. "We have to take her into the tower. No hospital is open this late at night."

"I know. You have the strength. Take us in." Robin smiled as Raven muttered some words under her breath and a black aura covered the threesome.

"Perhaps we shall go check on our friends," Starfire suggested. "They may need our help and-"

"AHHH YEA! What now you little grass stain!" Cyborg bellowed.

"DUDE! That's not fair! You just...hey...stop!" Beast Boy threw the controller down and the words "You are a Loser" flashed on the screen. Cyborg grinned deeply and rested his hands on the back of his head. "No one can beat the masta."

"The masta is known for cheating." Beast Boy retorted.

"Friends, we must go see if Robin and Raven have made discovery of their-"

The doors hissed open and Raven and Robin came in, Raven levitating a girl behind her. Stafire, Beast Boy and Cyborg were speechless.

"Man..." Cybrog began.

"No time for that. What bay do you want her in?" Robin asked.

"West bay is fine...small enough." Cyborg replied.

The West Medical Bay wasn't used often, only in extreme cases. It wasn't a large room, but it was big enough for all of the Titans and the girl to get in comfotably. Raven placed the girl on a the bed and Cyborg took her blood pressure and heart rate. Star and Beast Boy couldn't do anything much but gather towels and blankets from the closets.

"Will she be...OK?" Starfire asked timidly, eyeing the patient.

"Let's hope so Star. Right now I can't even find a pulse." Cyborg sighed to himself. "I don't even know if she's breathing or not."

Robin crossed his arms. "We're going to need help."

Beast Boy emerged from the doorway. "Raven hasn't tried yet. If anyone can help, Raven can." He smiled and shot a look at Raven, who was already shaking her head.

"I don't think so Beast Boy...I might...mess something up or something..." What Raven didn't tell them was that she hated strangers, especially this strange young girl that had popped out of the blue. Entering people's minds was hard enough, but entering a stranger?

Robin furrowed his eyebrows behind his mask. "Are you sure? It wouldn't hurt to try. Cyborg isn't making any progress."  
Cyborg grumbled something about Robin under his breath. Something about Robin not doing any better.

Raven was still unsure, but if Robin was certian, then she would have to try.

"OK. Move back."

The team moved toward the doorway as Raven pulled her hood over her eyes and began to chant.

Almost instantly images began to appear...voices...emotions that Raven could not identify. Her friends had seen her teeth grimace and her eyes tighten.

_"Yes, Rella." "No, don't go there." "Saphiria is dangerous." _

The voices were loud and extremely clear but Raven couldn't understand them. They had a certain mist about them, she had heard them before.

_A picture of a lake, a girl, standing...wishing she would be free. Anger, so vivid. "Come back, please, Mama, come back...please..." Tears, anger, again. _

_"You are talented, Rella. You will go far." A smile. "Promise to come back for me, OK? Promise we will always be sisters. Promise...Do you promise, Rella? Do you? Promise me..." A kidnapping, tears, sadness, depression. _

_A room, dark, isolation. A heavy burden, a burden...so heavy._

_"You are talented, Rella, you will go far." "No she's not." Mean words. "Leave, get out of Saphiria."_

Raven pulled back, mostly because she could no longer breath. Her healing powers had done something they were not supposed to, unlock the girl's memory.

And the girl woke.

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	2. Chapter 2: Signs

**Disclaimer I do not own Teen Titans**

**Chapter 2: Signs**

At first her eyes vibrated slightly, as if her eyelids were shivering, but she was alive. Cyborg smiled, glad someone had taken his place. Raven was shivering violently from the cold emotions, but moreso from the anger trying to escape her.

"Glorious! Friend Raven has revived the new comer!" Starfire said quietly to Beast Boy.

"Told ya!" He whispered back.

The girl shivered and goosebumps covered her arms, she grunted quietly and her eyes opened, revieled two extremely dark eyes...so dark that one could not see the iris.

"Wha..." The girl blinked, squinted, and pulled a hand to her forehead. "What...where..."

Robin moved forward to Raven, who was now a bit more calm but still in shock. He wanted to comfort her but he was afraid of her reaction. "Raven, are you OK?"

Her eyes peered at him. "Fine," and with that she dissappeared in a black shadow in the floor.

The girl stared at the 4 Titans, her skin slowly regaining its color, a milky tan. She wanted to speak, to say something, to ask, but she was dumbfounded.

"Friend, you are safe..." Starfire began.

"Where...am I?" The girl asked, looking around the West Bay.

The Titans hesitated, but Cybrog answered the question quikly enough. "Titan's Tower, Manhatten. West Bay Medical Area." He smiled slightly as the the other Titans moved a bit closer.

"Oh..." The girl pulled her hand to her forehead again. "I really...I really need...some rest...some water...please?"

Beast Boy went to fetch the girl a cup of water, only to find Raven on the red couch, drinking tea and breathing deeply.

Raven heard the doors hiss open but she didn't turn around.

"Are you OK?" Beast Boy asked. "You should be proud. That girl woke up." He smiled with all his teeth, but Raven just sighed.

"I'm fine Beast Boy...thanks for your concern. I just...my head just hurts a little bit."

"Oh...OK." Beast Boy went to the sink and grabbed a cup of water, running a bit faster to the West Bay.

When he got there the girl had went back to sleep, turning to her left side. Cyborg had opened the curtains to the wall widow which had made the room 10 times brighter than what it was. Beast Boy placed the glass of water on the night stand.

"We should probably leave," Robin said. "She needs her rest."

"Did she tell you guys anything?" Beast Boy asked.

Starfire shook her head. "She seems to be...in a state of shock."

The other Titans left the room, but Beast Boy stayed in, watching the girl flip and turn in the white sheets.

_I wonder what Raven saw..._ He began to think. The girl seemed so harmless that seeing something evil in her was very hard to imagine.

Beast Boy would soon eat his words.

When the girl turned to her side, something began to glow through the cloak on her lower back in a blue aura. Beast Boy watched, a little unsure if what he was doing was right, but fasinated all the same. The glowing seemed to make lines, shapes...until a final sign appeard. The symbol: "M", glowing through her cloak and getting stronger. The aura died down and the letter vanished, but Beast Boy was still in a state of shock. The girl stopped turning and began to snore peacefully. He decided that the best thing to do would be to ask Raven, she knew more about signs than he ever would know.

The Titans had retired in the main room. Cyborg and Starfire were playing "the video gaming", Robin was listening to music, and Raven was still sipping her tea, now with a book in her lap.

At first Beast Boy had the urge to challenge Cyborg and Starfire, but then he remembered the reason for his hurry. He walked over to Raven and starred at her.

Raven turned and glared at him. "What now?"

"The girl...something kinda showed up on her back...like, a letter or something. Can I see that book?"

Before she had time to protest, he grabbed the book and pulled out a pencil from his pocket. "It looked something like this..."

He drew it, very poorly at first, but then he solidated the edges until it looked like what he had seen. "I thought you might know what it means." He smiled.

Raven had actually began to take interest in the sign as she had seen it before. "I think I know what it is. Hold on."

Raven rushed to her room and took out an old book from her shelf. The leather cover was thick with dust. Raven blowed on the cover, annoyed, until she saw the title in blue-gold print: "**_Saphiria_**"

Raven pulled the cover open and turned the gray, frayed pages until she saw what she was looking for.

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_THE SCORPIONS_

_History: Occupated Saphiria for 1008 years before the Great War. Current age: 2005, no more Scorpions in Saphiria, Umbra, Tavis, or Wydren_

_Area of Mark: Lower Back or under bellybutton_

_Gifted with: The element of water, the talent of writing, mystery and secritivity, sensitivity, heavy love, and most importantly the gift of childbirth and child bearing._

_Dangers: Lies and jelousy_

_Reason for extintion in Saphiria: Lord Libra and his minions, The convent of Saphiria, and the war that the Scorpions brought amongst themselves._

_-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Raven gasped. She remembered now, the voices, the images. They were all about Saphiria and the horrid war she had read about. How could she have been so ignorant? Was this the only Scorpion left?


	3. Chapter 3: Identity

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans**

**Chapter 3: Identity**

A loud knocking bellowed through Raven's room and caught Raven from her trance.

"Raven? Raven! Are you OK? You've been in there for a while..."

It was Beast Boy, his knocks and voice muffled. Raven shut the book quikly and opened the door, taking the book with her. She walked out and the door closed behind her. "We have to have a talk with this...girl." Raven said simply. Beast Boy was confused, but he nodded. "Do you know when she will be awake?" Raven asked.

"Not for a while. Last time I was in there she was asleep...and she had that mark...thingy..." Beast Boy paused. "We can go check right now if it's important, but I don't think Robin will be too crazy about it. He keeps telling us she needs her rest."

"She'll need more than that." Raven said. "Robin doesn't have to know. It's important that we get to her."

With that they were off to the West Bay.

Raven punched a code into the moniter outside of the door as the door hissed open. The room was brighter, as Raven had noticed. She walked inside, Beast Boy trailing behind her.

Raven almost instantly noticed that the girl was out of bed and next to the window, standing, crossing her arms. Her eyes were misted over in thought and she didn't even turn to her guests. Silence.

"Why?" The girl began, still starring out the huge window. The light of noon was peering inside the room. "Why? Why did you make me remember?" A tear fought against her eye, but the girl swallowed and kept her gaze.

Beast Boy moved forward but Raven held him back.

"I don't know where I am," she continued. "I don't know where I am or who I am, and all I can remember is depression and sadness." She turned towards them, tears now full. Raven and Beast Boy noticed how her height and features now. She was about as tall as Beast Boy with hair longer than Raven's but shorter than Starfire's. Her nose was petit, and everything about her seemed so...fragile.

"We want to help you." Raven began. "I'm sorry if that's all you remember. But I have something here that might help you. I want you to look at it and maybe answer a few questions for us." She paused and managed to squeeze out a "please."

The girl nodded, seeing that she wouldn't have much choice in the matter anyway. She sat on the bed and Beast Boy and Raven followed her, one to either side. Raven opened the book to the desired page that had all of the information about Scorpions. The girl starred at it.

She starred for a good 6 minutes, and Raven and Beast Boy started to wonder whether she could read or not. Before they had time to ask her she looked up from the page to Raven. "I'm sorry. I know I've seen this somewhere...but I can't...I can't peice it together...it's like there's something missing and I need to know what it is before...I just...there's something missing..." The girl stammered and got back up again. Her cloak had dried off under the white robe Starfire had given her.

Beast Boy had read the page and had realized what Raven was getting at. The mark on the girl's back was probably gone by now, but Raven had been able to relate it to this place...Saphiria, was it? Something about that place and the girl, something about the mark.

Raven sighed quietly and stood up as well. "I'm sorry to have troubled you. I know this is...hard...for you." Raven thought for about a 3 seconds and then added "I want to see you tomarrow morning for some other things that might help."

Beast Boy smiled and Raven allowed a small grin to escape her. It would be hard, but they would have to let this stranger feel at home, at least until her memory came back and Raven would be able to get some answers. "I'm Beast Boy, by the way." Beast Boy added. "And this is Raven."

The girl smiled faintly. Her eyes were heavy with worry and fatigue. "I'd tell you my name if I remembered it," the girl joked.

"We'll call you Scorpio." Raven said suddenly, playing off what the book had told them. Both the girl and Beast Boy were shocked at her sudden remark, but the girl nodded. "Sounds reasonable enough. Sounds good to. Until I remember my name, I'll be known as Scorpio." She smiled faintly again. "I should get some rest..." She began.

"Say no more! We're off!" Beast Boy and Raven left the room, much to Beast Boy's consent. Scorpio was attractive...to him anyway. Perfect height and perfect figure... Raven noticed his interest.

"Don't even try, Beast Boy," she said simply while they were in the hall way. "She's dangerous. What I read about the war in Saphiria is enough to go by."

"How do you know she was in the war? That was like 1000 years ago or something." He protested.

"I'm pretty sure it's accurate. That book has a spell on it. It updates itself every time something happens."

The last part was creepy enough, so Beast Boy discontinued the conversation. The doors to the main room hissed open and Robin noticed them instantly.

He furrowed his eyebrows and shot them a glare. "Try not to get too attached," he said to them. "She can't stay forever, no matter what. This isn't a hotel."

Raven and Beast Boy were surprised at his sudden cruelty, but he was right. They had had many people wash up on their shores, all of which stayed for a while and then returned home. This girl would be no acception.

"Raven found something out about her." Beast Boy said to the team. "You should tell them Raven." He smiled at the empath, who rolled her eyes at his open personality.

Still she opened the book and carried it to the kitchen counter, where the rest of the Titans crowded around and looked at the page.

"It's self-explainitory," Raven began. "I don't really think that...the girl-"

"Scorpio." Beast Boy said.

"Right...Scorpio...was in this war, but what I saw in her mind...um..."

"Scorpio?" Starfire asked. "Is that the name of our newcomer?"

"Sure is!" Beast Boy retorted. "Raven gave it to her 'cuz it had something to do with that mark on her back."

The Titans starred at them.

"Is there something you want to tell us?" Cyborg asked.

"It's a long story." Raven told them. "But I can shorten it up. Beast Boy just saw this mark on her lower back and told me, and I looked it up...going but what I saw inside of her. What I found was this. And that pretty much explains it all, and her new name."

"How about her health? Wasn't she bruised or anything?" Robin asked.

Beast Boy and Raven shook their heads. "She has some personal pain but thats about it. The most damaged part of her was her head, and that's only by a few bruises." Raven told them.

Raven left the room, taking the book with her.

The Titans watched her exit blankly. Cyborg broke the silence.

"Why were you lookin' at her lower back man?" He shot a devilish look at Beast Boy, who was blushing madly.

"What? No, not like that...It was through her cloak...and I-"

His words were cut off by Cyborg and Robin laughing. Starfire was also giggling, and Beast Boy noticed how red his face was. The laughing died down and Starfire looked at Beast Boy.

"So...I do not understand. In the book of our friend Raven it said that this war was well over the average living time of a human, and this girl is but 14, correct?"

Beast Boy nodded.

"How are we to know that she is of this Saphiria?"

Beast Boy just shrugged. "I don't know Star. I just hope Raven finds out soon enough."

The rest of the day went by as usual, except for the fact that there was no trouble in the city. Titans East had taken care of both sides of town for today. Nothing but a few robberies and break-ins all over the city.

It was now well past 11:00. Raven was up as usual, and her friends had gone to sleep earlier than they did. She sat on the couch, watching some sappy love movie. Raven rolled her purple eyes and switched the TV off. When suddenly she heard a scream from the West Bay.


	4. Chapter 4: Passed

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans**

**Chapter 4: Passed**

The scream was shrill and high pitched. Raven knew right away it wasn't Starfire or one of the guys. It had to be Scorpio.

Quikly she hurried to the West Bay, her purple robe trailing behind her. The turns and hallways seemed longer than before, but Raven trudged on anyway.

When she arrived at the door of the West Bay she didn't bother punching in the code, but rather flung the door open in a black mist; only to find Scorpio sobbing quietly on the side of the bed, her knees to her chest and her tears falling slowly and softly. Her voice was broken and the whites of her eyes were cracked in red. The darkness of her pupils was no longer there, but instead a soft blue color occupied the space.

"Scorpio...are you...did you scream?" Raven moved toward the sobbing girl, but she moved back.

"I remember..." She began between sobs. "I remember everything...everything...and the book. And the war...and everything is pieced together. And I can see it..." She sat up straight and looked Raven in the eye, standing infront of her. She dangled her legs from the side of the bed and kept her gaze on Raven. "I don't want to remember. I want to forget it. It was so awful, Raven. If only you knew... What they did...to me...to _us_." Scorpio got back into bed but didn't bother covering herself with the blanket. She had thrown the cloak away and was now wearing a white tank top and black pajama pants that Starfire had given her. The pants seemed too long but the shirt fit well enough. She turned opposite the side of Raven.

"I'm really sorry if I woke you," she said now in a much colder tone. The sobs were gone but her voice still seemed vague. "I won't scream again...I promise."

Raven didn't really know what to say (who could blame her?). But she didn't have to say anything. Scorpio's lower back began to glow in a blue aura again, and the shape that Beast Boy had seen sharpened into the letter "M" with a pointed end. Raven let out a small, quiet gasp and walked over the where Scorpio was on the bed.

"I'm...sorry..." Raven began. "I know it's my fault." Then Raven's head perked and her eyes lit. "I have an idea," she said simply. "If it works I think I might be able to get everything off your chest."

"Raven...I really don't want to talk about what's bothering me right now. And I'm still really tired..."

"Just trust me." Raven's sudden generousity was showing broadly, but she knew it was mostly her fault that Scorpio remembered her past. And she knew her past had not been pretty, by the sound of it anyway. "Come on."

The two walked out of Titan's Tower on to the roof, where the October air chilled them to the bone.

"I'm not liking the idea so far..." Scorpio said through clattering teeth. "Can't we do this inside?"

"Well we can...but it's better out here." Raven wasn't shivering. October weather was her type of weather.

Raven took off her robe, which revieled a black tank top and black silk slacks. She sat down in her locus form almost instantly while Scorpio watched her back blankly. "Um...should I..."

Raven nodded and Scorpio sat next to her. "I've done meditation before, Raven. If that's what this is." Scorpio stated.

"This isn't meditation. Something like it. Azar taught me." Raven put her arms up and Scorpio did the same

"You knew Azar? Of Azarath? Really?" Scorpio showed some interest and Raven was glad. Her friends didn't know who Azar was, until she told them.

"Yeah," Raven said proudly. "She was like a mother to me for a while. Until she died. She taught me eveything I know. Including this."

Scorpio nodded and smiled. "So what do we do now?"

"It's like word association...um...if you know what that is. I say a word and you give off vibes. The vibes are the ones I take in, and that relieves you. Are you ready?"

"I really don't want to do this to you," Scorpio admitted. "I put you through my pain before, and I really don't want to do it again."

Raven opened her eyes and turned to Scorpio, whose eyes had stayed open all the while but had returned to their shadowy darkness. Her arms were no longer up and Raven put her's down. "How did you know it was me?"

Scorpio sighed. "Raven, Saphiria and Azarath are very similar. What they don't tell you those books are important things. Things one should know. They make it sound like a very happy place, and they make the scorpions sound like bastards and scum. That's what taught me, Raven. Being alone in a convent room is enough to teach anyone anything-"

Scorpio stopped abrutply, for Raven was starring at her with wide eyes, expecting more. Scorpio blushed, and though it was still dark, Raven saw it. She was embarrassed of her past, of her home, and of the talent that Raven had seen the voices talking about. The voices..._You are talented, Rella, you will go far. _Everything was coming together.

"The Saphirian convent. Is that were they put your...the scorpions?" Raven asked.

Scorpio nodded, and a slight tear trickled down her cheek. "Well...talking about the past doesn't do any good now does it? Go ahead, say a word."

Scorpio returned to her locus form and Raven did too, quite reluctuantly. She wanted to learn more about her, more...more...but she would, in time. This word association would work both ways: clear Scorpio's head and fill Raven's.

"Alright..." Raven paused. "Family."

The word grew vivid in Scorpio's head, the way Raven had said it had chilled her more than the icy wind freezing her bare shoulders. She felt the vibes escape her, and her temples vibrated from the pressure of the movement.

And Raven saw what she had wanted to see. Scorpio's past. The images and voices came again.

_"Do we have to leave, again? Umbra is much nicer than Saphiria." _It was a young girl speaking, much younger than Scorpio but they looked the same. _"I don't want to leave. I hate that place."_

_"I do too." _Said the older one, who Raven assumed was Scorpio. _"Why can't we stay here?"_

_"I really do want to stay in Umbra, dears. But there is little we can do. The convent is the safest place for you two at a time like this." _The mother of the two, tall and lanky, thick black hair that went down to the back of her knees.

Suddenly the images stopped. Scorpio was no longer next to Raven. In fact, she was no where to be seen. Raven looked around her wildly. Where could she have went? Inside? That quikly?


	5. Chapter 5: Point of View

**Disclaimer- I do not own Teen Titans**

**Chapter 5: Point of View**

Raven was confused, but she could understand. If anything, her past hadn't been the best either, and she knew the sense of shame that could follow one's memory. Especially her life in Azarath. Being the daughter of evil was hard in the convents of Azarath. She wrinkled her nose at the thought and decided it was best if she could just meditate. Morning was still hours away.

Scorpio had ran to the West Bay in the fastest speed she thought possible. Anything to get away from Raven. Her powers were dangerous, and Scorpio was not quite ready to open up. She flopped down on her bed. It wasn't very comfortable, but it had picked up her scent (beds always have scents. It's second nature once you've been sleeping in it for a while). She smelled her pillow heavily and tried to relax. Her shoulders rested and she closed her eyes, only to be awakened by a knock on the open door.

"Um...Scorpio? Are you OK?" It was Beast Boy, figures. Scorpio was shocked that he had come into the room, especially since she was still in her pajamas and uncomfotably shy. She knew what he had saw. If it wasn't for him she could've kept her identity to herself.

She spun around and grabbed her white robe, pulling it over her shoulders before Beast Boy could protest. "Fine...really it was just a bad dream..."

"It didn't sound like a bad dream." He came in the room and sat on the night stand. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"No." Scorpio said coldly. She was tired of people bothering her so much. Her past was her business. "I really...I really don't. I just want to go to sleep."

Though Beast Boy could take a hint, he wasn't prepared to give up. "Are you sure? I've got time."

Scorpio sighed. "You're not going to leave, are you?"

Beast Boy smiled widly and shook his head. "Nope. I'm here to help."

Scorpio sighed heavily again and looked at her feet. "Let's just say that where I come from, that sign you saw isn't a good thing. It marks your blood...and it tells people who you are. It's not exactly the best thing to be in Saphiria."

Beast Boy wrinkled his nose. "What? Why? I thought the sign looked cool. And how can people tell?"

"They just can. It shows. And everyone knows each other, and your parents, and their parents. Your blood line is traced from the begining. There's no escaping who you are." Scorpio's stare grew hard and she looked back up to Beast Boy. "I remember, Beast Boy. My home is a horrible place. And I didn't want to remember, but I do..." She held back the tears...they always came. No matter what. Her heart was so weak, her tears were always ready.

"Don't worry about it Scorpio. You'll be fine. 'Sides you're safe now. Titans Tower is one of the safest places I know." He smiled broadly again, but Scorpio didn't turn to him.

"Thank you..." She wiped her eyes. "I really do need some sleep you know..."

"Right. No prob." And with that Beast Boy left the West Bay, closing the door behind him. Scorpio fell asleep almost instantly.

Instead of going straight to his room Beast Boy stopped by the kitchen. The dishes were piled high and the trash needed to be taken out, but in his opinion the dirt just made the room seem more homely. He could see Robin was still awake, on the red couch eating some sort of snack and staring at the moniters. The city was flashing and different maps were popping up and out.

"Hey Rob. Anything new?" Beast Boy asked casually. He grabbed some stale popcorn and flopped down next to the boy wonder.

"Nothing much, Beast Boy. Cyborg put up new camras around the city yesterday. I'm just checking the views I get from them."

The topic didn't interest Beast Boy but he nodded and stared at the moniters in false interest. "Anything new with you?" Robin asked him.

"Yeah...sorta. I'm just wondering about Scorpio. Something's wrong and she won't tell anyone." Beast Boy paused. "Not even Raven."

"That doesn't surprise me. I feel she's hiding something. I just don't know what it is." Robin stated plainly. He hadn't really been fond of the girl ever since she washed up on their shore, but he wouldn't kick a defenceless person out of the tower home.

"Not everyone is a spy, Robin." Beast Boy said with a mouth full of stale popcorn. "From what the book tells me, she was banished from her home. I feel bad for her. Raven told me that...that she wasn't bad, she was just...misunderstood. They hurt her, Robin, her and her family. If that doesn't tell you something I don't know what does."

"We can't do anything for her, Beast Boy. Even if she has a bad home, she does have one. It's our job to make sure she gets there safe and sound. As for the rest, it's not our business."

What Robin had said was not something Beast Boy wanted to hear. If it was up to him, Scorpio would stay with them. But Robin was the leader, and Robin would decide.

Beast Boy furrowed his eyebrows and sighed deeply. "You're too serious, dude. You know that? She doesn't want to go back, Robin. She doesn't even want to remember."

Robin didn't reply, and seeing that he was getting no where in the conversation, Beast Boy went to bed.

The next morning Scorpio woke up to the bright light streaming through the wall sized window. _Should've closed those curtains, _she thought quikly. She got up and stretched. She could feel her mark glowing and burning behind her. She rubbed it gently. It was still bruised and hurt from being in the water for so long. She sighed and got dressed quikly. Starfire and Raven had bought her some new clothes, only because their old ones were too long and big. She was only as tall as Beast Boy, and her shoulders were too delicate. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a white tank top and blue hoddie.

Suddenly a loud knocking echoed through the small room, and Scorpio pulled back in surprise.

It was Beast Boy. "Scorpio! Scorpio! Open up, we've got a surprise!"


	6. Chapter 6: Surprises

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans**

**Chapter 6: Surprises**

Scorpio rushed to the door and pressed a button that made it fling open. Beast Boy was standing in the doorway, grinning his awkward grin with a twinkle in his eye. "We have a surprise for you," he said again. "It's great, really! Come on!"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the doorway with a small "eep" of protest from her. They ran down the hallway of the West Bay and went into an elevator.

"You're going to _love_ this," he mumbled under his breath and he punched in some numbers to the keypad. The doors closed and the numbers on the top of the door began to light up. He turned to her and grinned. "Almost there!"

Without warning he went behind her and slid his hands over her eyes. Scorpio let out a small "eep" of protest again. "Beast Boy, don't!" She said, trying to gently pry off his fingers.

_He doesn't know...I shouldn't blame him..._

Beast Boy realized that Scorpio didn't want to her eyes to be covered, but he was as subborn as a mule when he wanted to be, and so he kept his hands over her eyes within a firm grip. "I want it to be a surprise..." He bagan.

_Let go...I don't want to..._

Too late.

Her mark began to glow, this time in red, and the lighted mist sifted through Beast Boy's fingers from her eyes. It looked like a cloud of blood and yellow light. Beast Boy pulled back, more in convern rather than fright. The light continued to escape her until he had let go entirely and was about 4 feet away from her. She knocked her fists together and the light disappeared abruptly. The elevator door opened, but neither moved.

After the uncomfotable silence was beyond her limit, Scorpio sighed and rubbed her lower back. "I guess I have some explaining to do...huh?" She blushed without notice.

Returning from his shcoked trance, he met her gaze. "I do want to hear more about...what just happened here...but not right now..." He smiled slightly. "We've still got a surprise, remember?"

Scorpio nodded, but her gaze remained on the floor. "Right."

"Promise you'll tell me after? I do want to hear about it. And I'm not just saying that."

Reluctuantly, Scorpio nodded. "I promise."

"Great! Then come on."

He was careful not to get too close, and he only touched her arm lightly when he saw they had almost arrived at their destination. "Close your eyes," he instructed when they had reached Raven's room. "Follow my voice." She did as she was told. Beast Boy tried to breathe a bit heavier so that Scorpio wouldn't bash into a wall. She heard a pair of doors hiss and Beast Boy lead her inside.

"Beast Boy?" She asked, moving her arm infront of her. "Beast Boy?"

She opened her eyes.

The room was dark, but then someone flipped on the lights and Scorpio saw that all 5 of the Titans were infront of her. "Surprise," said Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy, all grinning slightly.

"Yes! Surprise new friend!" Starfire added in merrily, hugging Scorpio so tight that Scorpio had to control the red mist from escaping again.

She was confused, but then Scorpio realized that the room had been designed for her.

_My room..._

Opposite the door was a wall sized window that was draped in dark purple curtains. The walls themselves were different shades of blue, and the carpet was pure white. Facing the window was a long, curved black leather couch and a small coffee table infront of it. To the left of the door was a twin sized bed, and then the main attraction of the room: a small, quarter of a circle shaped pool that looked to be about 4 feet deep. It spaned from the two walls about 3 yards into the room.

Scorpio's eyes lit and she could feel the hot tears of joy burn behind her eyes, they oozed out a bit but she was smiling so big she couldn't feel it. She squeezed the group into a bear hug, even the reluctuant Raven who hadn't really welcomed her but just smiled.

"You can stay until you want to leave," said Robin, much to his disappointment. _Just leave now..._

"Until then," Cyborg said. "You can stay in Titan's Tower for as long as you need to. The only catch is that you have to be a Titan." He smiled broadly.

"What that means is that you have to train and clean and stuff like the rest of us." Robin told her. "If you decide to stay you can fight on our team. Until then the choice is yours."

He held out the communicator, expecting her to either turn it down or take it. Whatever she would do next would determine her future...

She took the communicator gladly and shook Robin's hand, who, despite that he strongly disliked this new comer, accepted and smiled. "Great."

"Now who wants some breakfast? I'm starvin'!" Cyborg and Beast Boy dashed for the kitchen. Robin, Starfire, and Raven soon followed them, leaving Scorpio to the room of her own.

It was _much_ better than the West Bay, to say the least. Not only was it bigger, but it had her own mini-pool inground pool and an actually comfortable bed. She sighed from happiness and flopped down on the bed, stomach down. _Being a Titan can't be all that bad. Must be better than being a Saphirian..._ She smiled at the thought. _Titan, a new home, new friends, a new life..._

It was then a bone splitting red alarm went off in the Tower...


	7. Chapter 7: Scorpio's Journal

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans**

**Chapter 7: Scorpio's Journal**

Scorpio had heard the alarm before, but what was new to her was the glowing and beeping of her shiney new communicator. When in started she had threw it on her new bed and covered her eyes in fright, but then she realized that it was a villain alert and that she had nothing to be afraid of. Slowly she picked up the new communicator and headed toward the main room, where all of the Titans had already gathered and were staring blankly at the huge moniter infront of them.

Raven seemd most uncomfotable, she kept punching in new codes and moving cursors over the many maps that were shining and flashing overhead. She sighed and turned to Robin, who could read her gaze from the moment he saw her expression. _Slade..._

Raven nodded, reading his thoughts. She turned to the others and let out the same sigh again, moving her hand through her hair. "Slade's...back...it that's what you want to call it. He's returned to the city and it looks like he's brought along some friends."

Robin raised his left brow. "Friends?" He stared up at the moniters and nodded. "Two new friends. Apprentices probably." He paused and looked at the screen for about another 3 seconds. "Scorpio, if you're going to be part of this team then you are going to have to train. This might be too dangerous so just stay here until we come back."

Scorpio nodded, what else could she do? Slade did sound dangerous, and from her past experience she knew she was _not_ a fighter, if anything she was a writer, an artist. Her only muscles were in her mind, and that wouldn't do good against a madman and his apprentices. The Titans left, only with a glance of worry from Starfire and Beast Boy. She assured them that she would be fine and they were off.

_What should I do..._But it was too simple. _Housework obviously..._ She squinted at the thought, but it was nothing new to her. In the Saphirian convent she had been treated more like a maid than a maiden, and serving and bending to the wills of nuns and monks was hard to do. She started with the dishes, much to her displeasure. They were piled high and it looked like they hadn't been taken care of in weeks. It took her about half an hour to finish them all, and soon the whole house was sparkling clean.

She didn't go into the Titans' rooms, though she was curious to find out what they were like. Especially Raven's. It seemed like the most interesting to go into. If she could pull out an ancient magic book on a different dimension like Saphiria, what else could she do in there? Scorpio could only wonder. She knew there were cameras everywhere except for the bathrooms and the girls' bedrooms, why would she try? She shook her head from the thought.

About an hour after the dishes had been finished, the Titans returned with slumped shoulders and discouraged looks on their dirty faces. But they were pleased to find out that Scorpio had cooked...and cleaned...and pretty much done everything else.

Beast Boy was the first to enter and his eyes grew wide at the table of food. "Dude! Scorpio! How'd ya do all of this? It must have taken you forever!"

Raven sighed, but her expression was somewhat pleased. "Obviously it took her the same time we were away from the Tower." _Genius..._

Starfire and Robin smiled, and both complimented Scorpio's work. Robin was starting to think better of her, but he admitted to himself that he didn't like her as much as the others did..._something_...

Cyborg smiled at the piles of ham and turky sandwiches. "Oooo...those for me?" He asked.

Scorpio nodded shyly and the Titans sat down to eat. Scorpio stretched her tired, limp hands and arms and yawned heavily. She had changed into a black tank top and some slick white Pajama pants, much to her comfort. Jeans weren't the best thing to wear when you were trying to clean 4 different bathtubs. She arched out her toes and neck, still staring at the hungry and worn out Titans. It was now about 4:00 p.m., and she knew that she had little chance of sleeping. _That's just how Scorpions' are..._

"I think I'm gonna go to my room for a little while..." She said, walking over to her new room. She would have to get used to its location...

"OK." Beast Boy said with a mouthful of tofu dogs, but she could barely hear him.

She punched in the code and the doors hissed open infront of her. Slowly she slumped on her bed, and reached her hands under the pillow..._hey..._

There was something under there...leathery and soft...she'd felt it before. She was too tired to lift the pillow and look, so she pulled it out into the open and stared at it. It was a Saphirian notebook, _her_ Saphirian notebook. She smiled, mostly in confusion, but then held it out infront of her and saw there was a post-it note on the front; written in dark blue ink and it very neat handwriting. It read:

_"I was able to get your journal from the Saphirian convents. I knew you missed it."_

Scorpio smiled to herself and pulled the post-it note off, inspecting it readily. It had to have been Raven. Starfire's handwriting was curvy and hard to read, as if it was always dancing. She remembered all the spice jars that had been in the cabnets, all written in Star's handwriting. Robin and Beast Boy's handwriting was about hte same, tattered and unsure of lines. Cyborg's handwriting was computer handwriting, as he just printed everything he needed out. But Scorpio was sure this was Raven's. It was elite, definite, not vauge or deep at all, but sure. _And who else could have gotten into Saphiria? It is in another demension..._

That only left one question; who could have gotten into Saphiria? Libran warriors and Aries Soldiers were well beyond the borders of both the spirit world and the physical world. To get in you had to have been either a Cancer peasent or an Aries elite. There was no other way, and Raven was neither. Scorpio knew that they would come looking for them, her and Raven both. She shook the thought from her mind and looked at her old journal, the lock on the side still looking quite shiney in its bright red metal.

Her mother had given her that notebook, and it was expensive at the time. _5 Libran coins..._ Scorpio closed her eyes and invisioned that day...

_"Mama! Mama! Look! Look at the rams! Can we get one...pleeeezzzz?" Nem...so much younger. Asking for a ram. They were expensive, and they just couldn't afford them. "Please Mama?"_

_"Now, now, my love. I know you want a ram but maybe it can wait. It is Rella's birthday, you know. Today she picks her present, remember?" Nem, no longer interested in the goat, runs to Rella's side and looks at her older sister, by 3 years, looking at the books and pens._

_"That's no fun, Rella. You should go and get a sword, or a slave...or a water element book. Those are nice, and everyone knows that you'll be needing a water element book when you turn 14 anyway." _

_"I'm turning 13, remember Nem? And I don't really want a sword anyway. Jet might want one, though..." Rella, still looking at the books and pens. She picks up a black leather notebook with a red metal lock and tries to open it, looking at the gypsy behind the cart. "How much?" She asks her, still fiddling with the lock._

_"5 Librans. But you wouldn't be interested in that anyway. It doesn't come with a key." The gypsy stares at Rella with deep eyes, both vague and unpleasent. They make Rella feel naked and open, so she breaks her gaze._

_"5 Librans? For this? Isn't that a little too much?" Rella asks her, still pulling at the lock. "And why doesn't this come with a key?"_

_"It's made of Taurian hide and the lock is made of Scorpion shellings. That's the only way you can open it, young Scorpion. On your birthday tonight, when you can transform, you will figure out how to open it."_

_Rella gasps at the old, brown lady, no longer even thinking about the lock. She could've overheard their birthday conversation, but how would she know? How..._

_Rella doesn't care anymore, but she knows she wants the book. She reaches in her red cloak pocket and pulls out 5 golden coins and places them infront of the gypsy, who smiles an evil smile at Rella and thanks her for her business. Rella is glad that she was able to find something that only she would be able to open, and not her sister. _

_Her mother smiles at Rella and hugs her. "Your father would be proud of you, Rella. I know he would."_


	8. Chapter 8: In Training

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans**

**Chapter 8: In Training**

Scorpio's memories...all of them...always ended in pain. She couldn't control it, her sister couldn't, her mother couldn't, and even her father couldn't before he passed on. It was always _her_ fault. That her father had been born of Scorpion blood and killed, that the blood lived within her, that the Saphirian war had taken place, that her mark had came one year early when she turned 13. All of it...

As her tears fell silently down her cheeks, Scorpio threw the journal in the pool. It made a small splash and water flew in all directions. She remembered how she had opened it, and written in it, and how now it was probably rotting away at the bottom of the pool. She wouldn't know. Taurian hide was water proof and very rough, almost impossible to break, and Scorpio shelling metal was rust resistant. As long as it was away from her, out of her sight, she wouldn't mind. She missed writing in it, yes, but she did not miss her memories.

Her digital clock on the night stand struck 5:00 p.m. and she decided she would go see if the Titans were finished eating. Maybe they would need her for something, she did owe it to them. They had treated her kindly since her arrival, and she knew she would make it up to them, no matter what.

-----xXx-----

Though it was still only 5:05 p.m., the hallway and the sky outside of her window was dark. October was harsh here, as it had been in Saphiria. The air was cold in the tower, and she could almost see her breath. _Had it always been this cold? _When she had been cleaning she hadn't had felt the temperature. She shivered a bit and ran back inside her room to grab her zippered hoodie, which reminded her so much of her cloak.

She continued down the hallway to the main room, where all of the Titans were going about their average day activities, doing nothing in particular and everything in general. Raven was reading on the red couch, next to Star and Cyborg who were "video gaming". Beast Boy was still eating some tofu dogs that Scorpio had made, and Robin was listeing to his CD player. When she walked in, everyone noticed but they didn't make a big deal out of it. She sat at the table across from Beast Boy, who smiled broadly with a mouth full of tofu.

"Hey Scorpio," he said. "Thanks again for the food and the cleaning and stuff."

She smiled faintly at him, until he noticed the tear stains from her rememberence and his facial expression changed. He put down his food and asked. "Is something...wrong?"

Surprised that he had noticed, she wiped her face on her navy sleeve. "No, nothing...really," she stammered.

Robin had put down his CD player and came to the table, grinning his proud grin. "We really do owe you thanks. I do especially, it was my turn to do dishes." _I still don't like you..._

"No problem, it was nothing...really."

"If you're feeling up to it," Robin continued, "we can start training right now."

Scorpio was tired, but she knew what Robin thought about her, the same thing everyone in Saphiria had. She nodded and passed a small, fake smile that hurt her mouth. She didn't want to train, but only Raven would be able to tell. She followed Robin to the training area in the tower, expecting the other Titans to follow, but they didn't. They knew that new recruits always had to train with Robin first, and he'd size them up afterward.

Robin walked fast, and she could have been able to walk fast too if she hadn't had been so tired. They went down the elevator and into a large, gym like room, with punching bags and weights scattered around in the corners. The floor was concrete and the room itself smelled like B.O.. She wrinkled her nose at the horrible stench, but Robin just took it in.

"This is the East Gym," he told her. "It's where we train when it's cold outside. Either here or the West Gym."

Scorpio nodded. "OK...um...what should we do first?"

Robin shrugged in indifference and thought for a while. "It's up to you. When I started training I always had a choice of what to do first."

"What are my options?"

"Hand to hand combat, regular exercises, or swimming and running." Robin shrugged again and sat down on the bench next to them. "It's up to you."

She was too tired to swim or run, and regular exercises like push-ups and sit-ups didn't sound too great at the time. "Hand to hand combat sounds good."

Robin smirked and stood up. _Great..._"Alright, but it was your decision." Without warning he kicked in her direction, but Scorpio was quik and dodged it.

"Against you?" She asked.

"Who did you think?" He asked her back, running towards her. _She's going to have to strike back._

Robin flung 3 birderangs at the running Scorpion, who dogded two of them and caught the last one. She climb up the teathered ropes and shot the birderang back at Robin, who was now well below her, dodged it in turn. _Wasn't this supposed to be hand to hand?..._

Robin shot 3 flat ice bombs, and the 3rd one that she was not able to dodge froze her ankle and covered it like a heavy sheet. She bit her lower lip and jumped down off the rope, about 13 feet down, to break the ice. She rubbed at the sores and watched as Robin came running towards her...

_Think fast...'You are talented, Rella, you will go far...'_

She was tired of Robin hating on her all the time. The other Titans accepted her, why couldn't he? Wasn't she the one that had done dishes when it was his turn? But then again, wasn't he the one that had given her the communicator and allowed her to stay?

When he was close enough, Scorpio stuck out her still sore ankle and leg and swung it around, tripping the boy wonder flat on his face. She got up quikly and then did something that he wasn't expecting. The ice shards from her ankle started to vibrate on the ground. Then, in a blue aura, they flowed up and pinned Robin to the ground between his clothes and his sweating body, craking the concrete to secure the ice shards. He tried to move, but he couldn't. He couldn't even see Scorpio's face, which was smiling broadly.

She crouched down next to him. "Did I do a good job?" She asked playfully. She knew Robin hated his pride being shot down like this, she knew his type. But it brought her an ease to feel that he wouldn't be able to hurt her, as she was afraid of him. It also would mean that she was a good fighter, and that she might help the Titans next time they were to go out on a mission.

Robin grunted and tried to move out from the ice's grasp. He breathed heavily realizing that the only way he was going to get out was to rip off all of his clothes. He sighed. "Yeah...you were OK..." He wanted to ask her to remove the ice, and how she had gotten it to obey her in the first place, but he had had his pride hurt enough.

Scorpio got up and the ice slid out of place in their blue aura again, leaving holes in the sides of Robin's clothes, from his shoulder down to his ankles. He got up and dusted himself off, inspecting the holes. _This was my good shirt damn it..._

Scorpio looked more serious this time, and her tone had changed from happy-go-lucky to apology. "Sorry..." she began.

Robin was still looking at the holes, which were almost a perfect length apart and went down both sides of his body. Not one had scratched his skin, and not one seemed out of place. "Don't be, just explain this to me." He said, in an equally stern voice.

Scorpio suddenly let out a small grunt of dissatisfaction. She didn't want to, but she would have to. If she were to stay, Robin had to know. "In Saphiria...um...my people...have powers and..." She thought for about another second. "Water is our element...and so ice is water, and that can pretty much explain the rest of it." She stared down at her shoes, expecting the worst.

Robin did something she wasn't expecting. Instead of a blow to the head or a shriek of disgust, he actually _smiled_ at her. It wasn't just a fake smile either, like the ones he had been passing here and there before, but it was true and genuine. A smile, from the Titan's leader. A smile of approval.

She smiled back, faintly really, because her powers took a lot of energy. And trying not to hurt Robin pysically in the process had been very hard.

He placed his hand on her shoulder, which made her blush madly, and kept his smile. "You did a good job today," he told her. "We can use any help we can get for the team, but you still are going to have to train. That's still a must."

She moved from his grasp and nodded. "I will, I promise." But he was staring at her ankle, which was now swollen and slightly blue. She bit her lower lip again and closed her eyes tight. "...It...hurts..." she managed to say. And then she fainted.


	9. Chapter 9: Haunting

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans...but I wish I did...**

**Chapter 9: Haunting**

The fainting wasn't the worse thing going on in Titans Tower. Scorpio managed to wake up about 5 minutes after on the big sofa in the main room, still complaining about the pain in her ankle and insisting that she couldn't fight. But the Titans had seen the holes in Robin's clothes, and he had told them the story. There would be no question about it.

What was worse, though, was the fact that Slade had returned and that he had 2 new apprentices, one that seemed to have the same powers Slade had when he was working for Trigon. "We'll need all the help we can get," Robin had told Scorpio. She didn't doubt that.

She had only been a Titan for about 2 weeks, but everyone could see a difference in both the tower and her. No longer dirty or smelly, the tower had made a complete turn around, since the day they had found Scorpio. She was constantly working on it, doing dishes, folding laundry, dusting off the shelves and such...and training almost everyday; meditating with Raven and working out with Robin. It was enough to wear her out, but she kept on. _I do owe them, don't I? _She had changed too, her eyes no longer had a gentle, fearful, fragile look as they had before. They were full and proud, and her muscles had grown as well, but not to a hideous point. They were still girlish and almost charming, but they were new.

Now Scorpio sat in her room, on her bed, staring down at the journal that still haunted her. Raven had given her the best and the worst present she could ask for. Best, because she had brought back the gift of writing. And worse, because she had reminded her of the past. Scorpio furrowed her eyebrows in thought. _You should've rotted in the pool...along with the rest of Saphiria. _

She had opened it the day before, the way the gypsy had taught her. _Transform_. And she had, and now she sat on the bed reading the frayed and wrinkled pages.

_September 17, Year 14_

_Journal,_

_Nem and I have created a plan to get out of this damned convent. It will take a lot of strength to presaude the gaurds, but I think I can handle it. They are just men, after all. And Scorpions can do anything, just like Mama used to say._

_Nem, on the other hand, is scared silly and keeps telling me not to try it. That it is too dangerous, that if I do get away, what will become of her? But I told her that I would come back, not just for her, but for Jet as well. For all of us that have been condemned here just because we are different. Nem doesn't belong here, and neither does Jet, but I dragged them into it, and I promised them that I would get them out. We all need a miricle._

_-Rella_

Scorpio could feel the tears rise behind her eyes again, but she held them back. _I'm sorry, Nem._

-------------xXx---------------

Raven was at the table sipping her tea and watching Beast Boy try to cook. Scorpio had been in her room a lot for the past few days, ever since Raven had gotten that journal of hers. Raven knew she missed it, but there seemed to be something wrong with it...

"Friend Beast Boy, why can't we just wait for Scorpio to make the breakfast?" Starfire asked him as she watched the kitchen get dirtier and dirter. "Her appetizers are most wonderful."

"I don't want to wake her," Beast Boy replied. " 'Sides, this cooking stuff is easy. I always thought that cooking with real meat would be so hard..." He added sausages to the pan and Raven and Robin watched as they popped in all directions and stick to the skillet. Raven and Robin exchanged looks of disgust. Beast Boy closed his left eye and stuck out his tounge, pulling even harder on the sausages.

"Man, who said she was asleep? It's almost like...12:00." Cyborg retorted from the table, drinking some coffee.

"She has to be, what else can she be doing in there?" Beast Boy asked him. He had given up on the sausages and had came to sti next to Raven, Robin and Cyborg, allowing Starfire to make "the breakfast."

"There are a million things she could be doing, Beast Boy," Raven told him. "You don't know that she is sleeping for sure." _Idiot..._

"Well...then I'll go check," Beast Boy told them.

"You'd like that," Cyborg mummbled. Beast Boy could feel his face flame up in red amber, but he pretended he hadn't heard anything and kept walking. _Cyborg..._

On his way to Scorpio's room, he began to sweat like crazy...for some reason or another. He didn't think it was what Cyborg said...it couldn't have been. He hadn't even had felt this way about Terra...had he? He couldn't remember.

He knocked on the door and she answered quikly, much to his distress. Raven was right, she hadn't been sleeping.

"Um...hey...Scorpio...It was just...uh...getting late and I...I mean we...were just wondering if you were...um...OK..." He was choking on his words and his tongue felt so fat in his mouth that he wanted to spit it out.

Scorpio showed no signs of indifference, but noticed Beast Boy's sudden change in tone and action. She raised a dark brow and came out of her room, closing the door behind her. "Are you feeling OK?"

"Yea..yes...I'm fine..." _Stop CHOKING! What are you doing...?_

"OK...because you don't look fine. Do you have a fever or something?" She lifted her hand to his forehead and pulled it back when it had met his skin. He really was sweating like crazy, her hand came back to her wet. "I think you have a fever, Beast Boy. In fact...I'm sure you have a fever." She wiped her hand on her black pajama pants. "Maybe we should call a doctor or something--"

"No! No...really I'm fine. I was just...uh...working out...you know...with Robin." He smiled and then looked behind him. "We should go to the main room now...and eat something..."

Scorpio raised her brow again and crossed her arms over her chest. "OK..." She followed him out of the hallway and into the main room, where Cyborg gave Beast Boy another uncomfortable look and smirked in her direction.

"Morning, Scorpio." Robin said as Scorpio came to fix the mess that had happened in their kitchen.

"Yes! Good morning friend. We are...in need of your assistance." Starfire told her.

Scorpio shot a look at the dishes and the black sausages. "Looks like it," she smiled. She began fixing the mess, quikly and forcefully, managing to actually use her powers when Raven asked her to have some tea. Raven made good tea, but she never added sugar in it, and so she only had about 2 sips and threw it out. In about 12 minutes the kitchen looked normal again, and fresh eggs and apple-cider bacon was already on the table. The Titans thanked her and she continued knocking around in the kitchen as Robin went to the moniters.

"Slade hasn't been in town for a while," Robin told them. "He has to be up to something..."

Cyborg looked at his back blankly, with some concern for his obsessed friend. "Chill, man. The dude's got 2 new apprentices, he won't be coming back for any of us any time soon."

"We don't know that for sure," Robin said, still facing the moniters. "And we don't know that those 2 are his apprentices. They could just be hench men."

"A hench man with heat sensory off the charts?" Cyborg asked.

"What Cyborg's saying," Raven told Robin, "Is that he won't come back for us, so we shouldn't worry about the city. An apprentice with that kind of skill is good enough for Slade."

Robin didn't answer, and no one had expected him to.

"Do we have any pictures of the 2?" Starfire asked. "Perhaps we can identify them."

"Not one," Robin told her. "Every time they sense a camra, they take it down before it senses them."

Beast Boy had stopped sweating, but he couldn't stop wondering why...why...why...Why this sudden interest in someone he had never minded before. And why all the sweat? The only time he could remember sweating this much was when he had beaten Adonis, and even it hadn't had been so sudden. It wasn't that he loved her, it was something else. Something unnatural...something that he couldn't explain. With Terra it had been so easy, loving her the first moment he saw her, only to be betrayed in the end. And this..._why..._

Now he was fasinated with her hands, and he longed to see her mark again. That glowing blue aura..._Stop! Stop! Stop! _He had to stop, Raven was right next to him, and she was shoting him looks of warning everytime he thought about it. He remembered what she had said._ "Don't even try, Beast Boy. She's dangerous." _Was she? She didn't look it. She looked so fragile and beautiful and so...shadowed. He kept staring at her hands, working on the counters and dishes, until finally she stared back and crossed her arms over her chest again.

"What, Beast Boy?" She asked in annoyance. "What?"


	10. Chapter 10: Cursed

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans...but I wish I did...**

**Chapter 10: Cursed**

He knew he had affections for her, but he didn't know what kind. It wasn't love, that was for sure. But it was so natural and drawing that he couldn't pull himself away from it. It was unearthly and definitly not natureal. But that was just it. If it wasn't love, what was it? She was the one that occupied his dreams at night, she was the one he thought about so often, she was the one that he wanted to be with. There was nothing sexual, but something was there. He just didn't know what it was.

Scorpio was in the West Gym, training with Robin. The East Gym was under repairs ever since her little ice craking incident, and so the West Gym would have to do. The best thing about the West Gym was that it was _much_ larger and it had a pool in the center, which gave Scorpio the real advantage, but Robin didn't mind. He had gotten better, and Scorpio could barely beat him. When she did, he wouldn't mention it to the others. But they could tell.

Scorpio was on the tethers on the ceiling, staring down at the boywonder who was throwing those horrid ice bombs at her. She squinted in his direction and jumped off the tethers, flying down into the pool and splashing Robin. The ice bombs would soon fall in the water, they were heat sensitive, but at least in there she had a better chance of dodging them. They followed her into the water and froze part of the pool. Silence.

First, Robin smiled broadly, but then he began to worry. When the time elapsed 1 minute, he ran towards the pool.

"Scorpio! Scorpio, are you OK!" Still nothing.

A flash of ice and cold water shot from the pool like a gyser and fell ontop of Robin, chilling him to the bone.

Scorpio came out some time after, smirking at the soaking Robin and giggling secretly inside herself. The water only made his tight close stick on tighter and his hair flop down like a mop. She wasn't wet, though she had been in the water. She was able to seperate it from her clothes.

"That wasn't funny," Robin said, shivering. "I thought you were hurt."

Scorpio furrowed her eye brows and walked towards him as her smirk disappeared. "...Sorry. But if you keep using those ice things, that's what's going to happen." Her eyes glowed in blue and the ice water that was on Robin's clothes flowed off down to his feet, following the motion of her hands. He was dry, but his hair still stayed the way it was.

She pulled her left hand to her forehead. "Can we stop training now? My head is killing me." She didn't like to fess up to Robin, who had enough pride for all the Titans put together. But there was a stinging pain in her head, right behind her eyes. She looked up only to see Robin staring at her. "What?"

"You're...red..." He managed to say. "Are you feeling...OK...?"

Scorpio looked down at her skin, which had gotten redder though it felt freezing cold and was covered in goose-bumps. She lifted her arm to her face and moved it around, examining it. She sighed heavily and put her arm down. "I'll be fine..."

She headed towards the door but Robin caught her shoulder. "Anything you want to talk about?" He asked her.

She blushed at his touch, but she knew he couldn't tell. "No, really. In Saphiria...this is...normal, if that's what you want to call it." She pulled away from his gaze and his grasp and continued out the door.

He watched her back blankly, realizing that her lower back was oozing with a black, lighted mist. She could feel it stinging and she could feel Robin's gaze. She turned around abruptly, breaking his trance and saving him from the curse of her people.

-------------xXx----------

The red color, Scorpio knew, was due to her contact with chlorine. Her body was not used to entering water with chemicals in it, and really she had never been in the West Gym's pool to escape Robin. But today had been her best defeat yet, and she smiled broadly as she changed into her khakis and white tank top.

Her mark was stinging like crazy, it felt as if it were burning and crisping under her clothes. This wasn't due to the chlorine, it was because her birthday was coming soon...it always did this.

Saphirian remedies were impossible to get, and Raven had already risked her life once to get her journal. Scorpio wouldn't dare ask her again. The best thing to do for it right now was put ice on it. She wrapped her waist heavily and tightly in a red scarf and headed for the kitchen.

To her relief, no one was there. It was as vacant as she had ever seen it, but she was glad. Carefully she slipped 3 ice cubes from the freezer and placed them between her clothes and her aching body, wincing as she did. She jumped when she heard the doors hiss open. She spun around wildly to find Beast Boy's confused face in the doorway.

"Hey Beast Boy...um...you want me to make you anything?" She asked as humbly as she could, feeling the ice water run down the side of her leg. She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes tight.

Beast Boy could feel his sweat tingle in the back of his neck and his tongue grow to fill his mouth. He searched for the right words in what was left of his mind. "Um...no...yes...No! I mean...I was jus..just...I'll make myself something...thanks." He smiled when he saw that she had sat on the table, careful to make sure that her mark would face the other way. "You do enough work around her already," he said, surprised that he had gotten it right.

Scorpio swore that the pain was going to kill her, but she knew Beast Boy was too tongue twisted to ask her about the scarf, and too tranced to get her to say any thing about her birthday. If she played her cards right, no one would know and the day would go by as normal. She smiled faintly at him, and he felt another drop of sweat go down his forehead. _Please turn around!...Pleeezzz..._

"Are you OK Beast Boy?" _Why am I lying to myself? I know what's wrong with him. _She sighed. _And I know the only thing that can snap him out of it. _She squinted at the thought. She had figured it out, his constant staring, his presperation. All the symptoms led to the day he had seen her mark.

"I'm...fine...Ugh..." He let out a small laugh. "Is it hot in here or is it just me."

_It's just you. _"Yeah, it is. You wanna open up a window or something?"

Glad she had asked him to do something, he smiled broadly and ran to the window nearest to her back, disappointed that she had gotten up and moved when he had came. The weather was cold and sharp, but it would help his...condition. He sat down across from her and drank the juice he had poured himself. _Say something..._

"You should have never seen my mark," she told him suddenly, as if she had planned the conversation. "It's dangerous."

"I don't think it's dangerous," he told her, calming himself but sweating all the same.

"It is. You can't run away from who you are." She wanted to get up and leave, but that would mean she'd turn around. And under Beast Boy's current urge to see her back, she knew, would only make his condition worse.

He felt uncomfortable, the same way he had felt when Raven was around him and he was thinking about something. Something personal, mostly. He felt open, uncovered, unsheilded, quivering in his very spot. "Then tell me how it was dangerous...and maybe I can fix it."

"Don't be stupid, Beast Boy," she said, rather coldly, surprising herself at her bluntness. But she was angry. Beast Boy, one of the 5 she could trust, had fallen under that damned curse. "You can't erase what you saw. And the only way--" She stopped herself before she went anyfurther.

"The only way what?" He asked, ignoring the remark.

"Nothing." _I have to get out of here..._

Without thinking, it happened.


	11. Chapter 11: Cures

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans, when I do own Teen Titans, you'll all notice the wonderful changes I'd have made. **

**Chapter 11: Cures**

The sink began to vibrate and then the water shot up and squirted Beast Boy in the face. He fell back on the bench and Scorpio took her chance, running out of the main room.

_I'm really sorry Beast Boy..._she thought when she had reached her room.

She slipped into her pajamas and feel asleep almost instantly.

-----------------------------------------------------------

_Shalt through out the hottest fire,_

_Go beyond the heart's desire,_

_To please, respect, and acount his sire._

_Shining armor though shall ark,_

_And follow thou's love through blind dark,_

_Once set his eyes on the Scorpion's Mark..._

_----------------------------------------------------------_

Scorpio woke abruptly, sitting up, her loose hair sticking to her sweating neck in a mess of wet and tumbled sheets. The song she had once loved as a child was haunting her, again. Luckily this time she didn't scream and no one came to her aid. When she was younger her mother had sung it to her and Nem in the sweetest of voices, every night. But once she had been sent to the Saphirian convents when she was 13, she had realized that it was a curse, the same burden her father had was now on her shoulders.

Nem hadn't gotten the mark, at least, Scorpio hoped she wouldn't. Scorpio had left Saphiria when Nem was only 11, way too young to have the Cancerian mark or the Scorpion mark. Their personality differences were only outmatched by their looks. Scorpio's thick, jet black, shoulder length hair and shadowed eyes had made Nem look like an angel. Her fair, long, hazel hair and blue eyes would confuse the townspeople, who swore they weren't related.

"It is possible," one would always sneer. "That mother of theirs..."

But the song in Scorpio's dream wasn't in her mother's kind, soothing voice. It was harse and open, cracked and shrilling, and it made Scorpio feel small and blinded. It was the cart gypsy's voice, and Scorpio could recognize it any where.

_And follow thou's love through blind dark..._ Scorpio sung it over in her head, sorry again that Beast Boy had seen it. It wasn't his fault. He _was_ after all, a male, and it was only their insticnt to watch a female sleeping. It had only been coincidence that he had seen that mark, and that it was glowing at that time. If she had been awake, she would have been able to stop him, just as she had stopped Robin. But fate would play out like that.

"_Rella, when you grow up and you and Jet are married..." _

_"I'm not going to marry Jet, Nem. And I'm not going to stay here. You know that." Jet is by the pond, watching them without shame. He wanted to marry Rella, why didn't she want to marry him?_

_"But Rella, he is a Scorpion, like you. And he loves you."_

_"Nem, he is 15 and I am 13, and I don't care if he's a Scorpion or not. What difference would it make?" Jet's eyes are glowing with envy, why couldn't she love him?_

_"Rella, I do love you. And we are both Scorpions. It would be wonderful. We would have millions of children and live in Tavis, on the beaches. Our children would grow up there and we'd love each other forever... Wouldn't you like that?" Jet's smile is soothing and he knows his mark will be glowing soon. Rella would have to look at it at be caught in his trance. The younger cancer peasent girls are laughing and giggling._

_Rella is blushing madly and she's staring at the ground because she knows her mark is probably glowing as bright as it could glow, she can see the light of Jet's mark, glowing right under his belly-button. She won't look at it. He is clever, but not clever enough._

_Jet moves up closer to her and places his hand on her cheek, and she can see the light glowing even brighter, and she knows her's is glowing too. But she is angry at Jet, for his open personality and his ability to make her feel so...light. She doesn't want him, she wants to leave and find her mother. She crouches down next to his mark, but her eyes are closed. Jet, now smiling, doesn't realize the water in the pond is moving. Rella swishs up and cold pond water hits Jet in the face. He flips backward and both of their marks stop glowing, but Jet's face is as red as ever._

Scorpio squirmed under her thoughts of the convent. They had probably killed Jet by now. All of the nuns and the monks hated him, him and his ways. She missed him, but she missed Nem and the others more.

It was now 8:00 p.m., the time had went by quikly without Scorpio doing anything. It wouldn't matter anyway. She couldn't face Beast Boy, he'd hate her for what she did to him. Jet had still loved her after that, but he was a shameless boy and Beast Boy was not. Her tears fell from the corners of her eyes, sorry that her damnation from Saphiria had spread to Beast Boy.

------xXx------

Beast Boy had dried off and was confused at her reaction to him. He was now on the big couch in the main room watching Cyborg playing his Game Sphere. Regularly, he would ask to play, but today he was in no mood.

"Let it go man," Cyborg told him now, still tapping on his controller. "All girls are like that."

"I don't love her, Cy." Beast Boy said quietly. "It's nothing I can control. It's that mark. And it's my fault. Raven told me not to get too close to her and I did."

Cyborg was confused, but he nodded anyway. "Raven did say there was something funky about that mark of her's." He said now, still staring at the screen. "But she's part of the team, and whatever problem she has, it's our problem too."

"She won't tell anyone. Raven can't get it out of her, Robin can't, Starfire can't, and neither of us can. It's impossible to get her to say _anything_, Cy. It's like she lives in her world alone."

Cyborg nodded again, his eyes not leaving the blinking screen. He knew Beast Boy was right, but there was little he could do. "Well, let this be a lesson to you then." Cyborg said. "Her powers are a great asset from what Rob tells me. We can really use her water works against that fire spinnin' apprentice Slade has. Just stay away from her from now on and the problem's sloved. No big deal." He shrugged it off and continued playing.

Beast Boy sighed heavily and watching the screen, Cyborg's blue ship cruising through tight black lanes. His mind was not set on anything for he felt at peace, as if his love for the mark had vanished along with his sweating. "Raven would probably know how to set things straight again," Beast Boy told Cyborg. "I hope she does. I really just want to be able to talk to her without shedding a lake. Get to know her, you know?"

Cyborg didn't answer and Beast Boy hadn't expected him to. He went to Raven's room.

Beast Boy knocked, quietly at first but louder everytime, until Raven answered, cracking the door open so that only her face showed.

"What?" She asked him.

"Can I ask you something Raven?" He asked timidly. "I think you're the only person that would know anything about...it..."

Raven knew right away what he wanted, reading Beast Boy's mind was like reading a cereal box, covered in pictures and big letters.

"I warned you," she sighed, still not opening the door. But she went inside and pulled out the book, taking it to Beast Boy and closing the door behind her. "Page XVI" Raven told him, handing him the book.

Beast Boy flipped the pages over and over until he reached the desired page. It read:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_SAPHIRIAN CURSES AND CURES_**

_The Scorpions' Curse: FOR A MALE: To break the curse, one may drink 2 jerits of Scorpion blood on the night of a full moon, preferably midnight. Another affective way to break the curse is to lather your cursers mark with water and wait until it glows again in black, usually before the eve of their birth, watching it glow the full time and chanting the curse again and again. FOR FEMALES: Same as males._

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _

There were many other curses, but Beast Boy only read the one he needed, peering at Raven. She lifted her eye brow. "What? Doesn't that answer your question?"

"Well...yeah...," Beast Boy said uncomfortably. "But I don't know what a...jerit is and I can't..._lather_ Scorpio's mark and _watch_ it. Have you seen where it is? She'd think I were perverted or something. 'Sides I don't know the curse's words, and isn't there an easier way?"

Raven had to smile, only because he was right. Scorpio would never let him watch her mark and lather it with his own two hands. If she would blush everytime Robin would compliment her or Cyborg would ask her something, how would she react to this? Trying to hold back her beam, Raven added, "You're right, actually. But I'll tell you something; Scorpio knows your cursed, and I'm sure that if you tell her gently that you know about it too, she'll understand. She's very mature about her...type of person...the fact that she's a scorpion and everything." She paused and added, "I think there might be an easier way...if I remember correctly, but she wouldn't really be too happy about it either." Raven's smile vanished but she was serious all the same. It would actually be fun seeing how this would turn out.

Beast Boy grunted. "How would you know?" He asked coldly. "I thought she doesn't say anything to you."

Raven crossed her arms. "She doesn't need to. But that's all I can tell you about this so far. You can keep the book." Raven went inside her room and closed the door, leaving Beast Boy staring blankly at the book.


	12. Chapter 12: Conference

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans, but I do own Scorpio. So ha.**

**Chapter 12: Conference**

The weather outside was cold and crisp, but the sun was warming what the air could not. Raven and Scorpio were trying to meditate on the roof, not that either was meditating. All of the Titans had been jumpy since hearing about the curse, the first real _anything_ that Scorpio had told them, and since Slade had attacked the city twice since yesterday. All of the Titans except Scorpio, whom Robin had told to stay at the Tower, had seen the way his 2 new apprentices fought. They wouldn't be easy to beat.

The problem was still trying to figure out their identity, which would be harder than beating them. They wore the same uniform that Robin wore when he was an apprentice, but they also wore masks like their Master, which made it harder. "And," Robin had told them, "if it wasn't for fire of the taller one, I bet we would have destroyed them by now."

"I don't know what to do," Scorpio said finally, staring out over the water. "I feel that everything that's happening is my fault."

Raven cringed at her last statement, remembering how horrible it felt to see her destiny with Slade behind her. "It's not," she answered. "Slade is a madman, and he's always showing up without warning. It's no ones fault he's here." Raven's eyes were open and she was staring out into the water as well. Remembering...

"It's my fault Beast Boy's under my curse," Scorpio said quietly. "And it's my fault that there are no other cures. Other cures were Saphirian herbs and plants..."

Raven was silent. "He's a vegan. He's not going to drink any blood, especially not yours." She couldn't really imagine Beast Boy even harming Scorpio in any way possible, not her or any one of his friends.

"I'm just glad he wasn't of Saphiria...the affects would've been much worse," Scorpio sighed. "At least I have that to be thankful for."

"How so? Isn't it the same for everybody?" Raven glanced over at Scorpio, who was picking at the ground, sitting cross legged like Raven was. Her black hair was blowing in the wind, imitating the motion of the sea below them. Scorpio let out a small grunt. "1008 years is a long time, Raven," Scorpio explained. "I may not have been alive then, but I can tell you this: thanks to this curse, Saphiria had the largest population at the time."

"Oh..."  
"...So I am thankful, but I still have to save him. It isn't fair to leave him like that."

Personally Raven thought that Beast Boy hadn't changed much at all. His mind was still an open picture book, and he was still as open and as friendly as ever, but she knew about curses. She knew that he wouldn't be able to think right or talk right until this curse was off of him. "Just don't try to cross Saphirian borders," Raven explained.

Scorpio shuddered at her words. "Nothing is worth crossing their borders." But she wondered right now if that was true.

------xXx------

Beast Boy had read the book cover to cover, realizing only that there were 2 main cures that could be carried out from Earth. The third cure he could not find, and he had read the book over at least 4 times trying to find it. He didn't, but he learned a lot about Saphiria.

Occasionally, he would forget about the curse, but his dreams never would. They were as unusual as Saphiria itself, ranging from Scorpio to him, to people he did not recognize. The people he did not know always came at the end and scolded him, telling him that he was a shameless boy and hurting him with every breath he took. There seemed to be 3 main people that always came. A tall, dark haired boy, a young girl that looked a bit like Scorpio, and a brown gypsy. The gypsy was the scariest of all, and she always recited the curse infront of him, smiling like the devil.

Though the gypsy was frightning, the boy and the young girl would have their ways too. The boy in particular, who would always smile at Scorpio in the most uncomfortable way imaginable. The girl was always crying and hiding behind Scorpio, and the gypsy was always smiling in that devilish way of hers.

The hardest part of his curse was not the dreams, but the fact that he was always thinking about the mark, even if it was for a little bit. His urges to see it were getting greater and greater each day, and he destested his "ideas" of how to see it again. They weren't in anyones favor, especially not Scorpio's.

He was now on his way to her room, sweating the whole way there. _What am I supposed to say to her? _He thought. _There probably isn't an easy way..._

He was at her door, and he pulled his sweaty glove to knock on it. The knock echoed through out the hallway as Beast Boy knocked a little louder each time. Still nothing.

"Scorpio?" He asked quietly. "Scorpio? Scorpio!"

The door hissed open and Scorpio was infront of him, red, soaking wet, and out of breath in her white bath robe. She furrowed her eye brows when she saw him. "You know," she said shyly, "when I don't answer that usually means I'm doing something." But she knew just as well as he did that this couldn't wait. She sighed and moved to the left of the doorway. "Come in."

Her room was dark, but homely, not like Raven's room. The curtains had been drawn to the center of the window to let a faint, purple light take the place of the noon day sun. "Can you hold on a sec?" She asked him.

He nodded, unable to find words.

She ran into her private bathroom and pulled on a pair of navy blue pajama pants and a white tank top, tying up her slightly wet hair. She came out and motioned Beast Boy to sit down on the black couch as she sat down on the coffee table, still red faced.

Silence.

She knew she would have to start, he was staring at her blindly. She felt uncomfortable, the same way she had felt when ever Jet was near. "I know...about...you know...the curse..." She stammered.

Beast Boy nodded. "So...what should we do?" He had never really given it much thought, but he wouldn't drink her blood. How could he? It was inhumane and out of character. He was a vegan, after all.

Scorpio shrugged, still red, and swallowed. "It's up to you, Beast Boy...I put the curse on you...you should at least decide how we're going to take it off."

"But we can't do it either way!" He exclaimed suddenly, forgetting that she was just as sensitive about this as he was. "I can't drink blood, and you can't let me...we can't...do that...other one..." He blushed madly and felt another drop of sweat trickle down his neck.

"I'm sorry," she said, holding back tears. She wasn't used to letting out what she felt, especially to Beast Boy. He did deserve it, he had been watching her. But she remembered Jet's mark glowing, remembering how drawing the glow could be. She closed her eyes tight and a tear squeezed out, falling on the white carpet. "It's...this...everything is...it's my fault..." Her tears were falling freely but she wasn't sobbing, thankfully to Beast Boy, who had the sudden urge to take her in his arms and comfort her, but he knew he couldn't.

Instead, he stood there, watching her tears fall on the white carpet again and again. He still wanted to see the mark again, but moreso he wanted to let her know everything was OK, that he didn't mind being naturally drawn to her, even if it was only 1 part of her body...but then again...he did. He felt trapped and he wanted to be free. "It's not..." he began. "It's not your fault...it's mine. But we can't cry about it...we have to find a cure and follow through with it. And then everything will be normal again."

"Beast Boy..." She said between tears. "Cures from Saphiria aren't easy to get...Raven risked her life to get my journal, and they're...looking for me and for her. I can _feel_ it. They're here. And when Slade attacked the city yesterday, that feeling...it just...swept over me. I've felt it before, Beast Boy...I know what it is..."

Beast Boy was shocked and confused, but he had felt it too. The characters from his dreams...he felt them near when Slade had come the other day. He still didn't know what to say.

"And I know about your dreams," she said suddenly. "And who is in them...and...I want to help you...to lift the curse and save you...from _my_ past..."

"Can you tell me who they are then?" He asked her, interested. "I really want to know...at least so I can face them."

"The guy is Jet...my...er...friend... and the girl is Nem...my sister. The brown gypsy...I don't know...but she's been in my dreams too lately." Beast Boy didn't think Jet was her friend, not by the way he looked at her in his dreams. His eyes were hungry, and once he saw him lunge at Scorpio and bite her neck, the blood oozing down her delicate shoulders until she uttered the words "_Why, Jet?"_. He squinted at the thought.

There was another silence in the room. "Raven said there was a third way," Beast Boy told her now, looking at the ground. "Do you know what it is?"

Scorpio swallowed and he saw her cheeks flare up in red again. "Yeah...but...it's pretty much the same as the lathering method...worse, even..." She smiled faintly at him, realizing how hard it must be for him to be in the room of his "blind" love. To stay and sit there quietly, going against the curse at its worse. He swallowed and got up.

"Well...that's pretty much it then, I guess..."

She furrowed her eye brows. "I'm going to lift this curse from you, Beast Boy," she said coldly. "No matter what it takes. I'm not going to let you go on like this. I know it's hard for you..." Her voice was stern and trusting, and Beast Boy couldn't help but smile.

"I know you will," he told her. "I just hope it's soon." He left then, taking her word for his savior. _I can trust her..._ He thought, but she could barely trust herself.


	13. Chapter 13: Jet's Return

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans, but I do own Scorpio. So ha.**

**Chapter 13: Jet's return**

_June 20, Year 13_

_Dear Journal,_

_I was just observing my hands, journal. It gets really boring here, and so I've decided that in my spare time I'm going to observe what I can about my hands._

_You can always tell a person by their hands and their eyes. If their fingers are hard and course, they are wokers. If their fingers are smooth and pudgy, they are most likely feminine, and if their fingers are long and smooth, they are an artist. Artists have no gender, journal, they are a gender of their own. A people of their own...I am an artist._

_Unlike eyes, hands don't tell the world your sign. A water sign always has blue eyes. A fire sign always has brown/amber eyes, an Earth sign always has brown eyes, and an air sign always has gray eyes. A scorpion always has black eyes._

_Me and Nem went into the village today...we kinda snuck out but it was worth it. It is a shame, really, journal, how many Aries elites have fallen. There were countless numbers on the streets, poverty stricken and shameless, trying to cover their heads with scarves and head dresses, trying to cover the mark on their foreheads. Aries' marks glow when they are angry, Scorpion marks glow when they are...um...interested..._

_I don't really want to spell it out for you journal, only beacause it isn't the greatest thing in the world. Of all the signs my father could have been, he was a Scorpion...I have no complaints or regrets. My father was a brillant man according to Mama, and I believe her. "Where do you think you got your smarts, Rella?" She used to ask me. "I know, Mama." _

_Jet won't leave me be for a second since I we reached the convent. He isn't allowed in the nuns' area anyway, but he comes. Shameless all the same. Nem is obsessed with him, and my Picsean friend (the only Picsean here) is in love with him. I don't see anything in him but that mark, which he keeps trying to get me to look at. _

_-Rella_

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Scorpio was on her bed, reading over the first few pages of her journal. She remembered everything now, her memory was no longer a fogged mist, but it was clear. She closed the book and glanced at the clock. It was about 11:00 p.m. Raven would be up, and Scorpio would join her, but Raven was dangerous, especially at a time like this.

It was November 1st, and in one hour her birthday would be over, finally. The whole day she had been acting jumpy, but guilty all the same. If she hadn't had been so shy, she would've let Beast Boy lather her mark and take the curse off him, but she couldn't. And more importantly, he didn't want to. She knew. If he did, it was only beacuse of the curse, once it was off he probably wouldn't think about her in that way again.

_It comes with the responsibility..._she thought to herself as she crawled into bed. She wouldn't sleep, but at least her body would be able to rest. _And I am to blame..._

Instantly her mind drifted to Beast Boy's dreams, which he was having currently. They were getting stranger and stranger each time, but one thing never changed...Jet was in all of them. Jet and herself, and the mark. And that damned convent. She closed her eyes and watched them, piece by piece until it was morning.

----------xXx----------

Raven woke up to the slightly filtering light going through the clouds. She had never slept in this late before, it was almost 8:00 a.m. She got up and stretched, throwing her cape over her shoulders and getting ready for the day. Scorpio would probably be on the roof waiting for her, but she doubted it. _"I hate meditating," _Raven recalled her saying. _"Can't we do something else...please?"_

Chances were that Scorpio had already went to the roof, noticed Raven wasn't there, and had went back inside to make breakfast. Raven smiled at the thought, having someone younger than them was enjoyable.

Raven made her way to the main room, the doors hissing a welcome. Scorpio, Robin, and Starfire were inside, eating and talking all the same. Robin shot her a smile.  
"Morning, Raven." He told her.

"Yes, good morning friend Raven!" Starfire exclaimed from next to him. "You have slept well?"

"Good morning, Robin," Raven answered. "And good morning, Starfire. I slept...well...enough." Truthfully Raven had barely slept at all, getting strong vibes from Beast Boy's room and Scorpio's room. She guessed that something was up, but she wouldn't try to read her mind again.

Scorpio smiled at her too and gave her a mug of tea. "You weren't up this morning," she said proudly.

"You should've waited," Raven said back, sipping her tea.

Scorpio furrowed her eyebrows and stretched her arms up. Today was her first day officially as 15. It wasn't the greatest feeling in the world to have no one acknowledge you one day after your birth, but then again, they didn't know. "So...I guess we still have to meditated then...huh?" She said quietly.

Raven nodded but then turned to Robin, who shoke his head. "You've been training well enough. I think you can take a break for today...for both mental and pysical." He took a sip of coffee.

Scorpio smiled broadly. Today would be awesome, no training...no nothing...

It was then the Titans' alarm went off in the tower, as if to ruin the whole thing. Robin ran to the moniters and typed in the code, and maps and diagrams flashed infront of them

"Slade." Robin told them.

Scorpio looked at the moniters and then at Robin's back. He turned around and sighed. "I guess it's time you come with us, then."

Beast Boy and Cyborg came out of their rooms, hardly awake and half asleep. When the saw the moniters they straightened. Cyborg ran to the garage to get the T-car and Beast Boy and the others were off to the city.

Raven would have helped Scorpio make it over the water, but remembering her element she didn't. Scorpio managed to make a thin ice sheet that she could stand on and control at the same time. Within minutes they were off to the Harbor.

------------xXx------------

The harbor wasn't rich in jewels or money, but Slade didn't want that. "He's planning something," Robin had told them. "Something big, and I will stop it." He always did.

What the harbor _did_ have was location, right to the East of Titans Tower, and right next to the observatory. It was a perfect location for any madman, why not Slade?

"Stop!" Robin yelled to the taller apprentice, who was busy trying to shot down a fishermen. "Freeze!"

"Ha! The Titan Toddelers, what a surprise..." He turned around, still having flames bursting from his arms, to Robin; who jumped and threw a flat ice bomb on him. He caught in and threw in in the harbor. "You're going to have to do better than that, bird boy." He answered back, now throwing flames at the other Titans.

Scorpio could only watch. _Fight...fight...fight...fight..._She was not a fighter, but she would have to try.

The other apprentice, the shorter by about 2 centimeters, was hauling fish back into the water, clearing the space for his master. Obviosly neither saw the Titans as a threat, and that burned Scorpio most of all. She bit her lip and ran towards him, dodging the fire of the first. She pulled her arms up and water from the harbor flowed and hit both of them flat on their backs.

The same ice pins that had held Robin now held them firmly between the boards of the dock. Scorpio smiled to herself and turned to her friends, who smiled back and ran to un-mask the two.

Robin reached for the first one, who was lying on his stomach, pinned to the ground. Remembering that his hands were still dangerous, he turned to the shorter, who was lying on his back, and un-masked him.

His hair was very dark, almost like the night sky, and his eyes were blue and a little green too. His skin was slightly tan, but not dark or light, and his actions were forcefull and reckless as he tried to escape the ice pins.

Scorpio looked at him, and Robin noticed she wasn't looking at his face, but at his stomach...something was glowing under his uniform, and Scorpio was staring as if hypnotized.

"Scorpio!" Robin yelled, moving his hands infront of her. He shook her shoulders. "Raven, Starfire, look away!" He yelled back to the them. They did as they were told, closing their eyes and looking in the opposite direction.

Raven tried to reach Scorpio's mind, to break her out of the trance, but it was useless. Her mind was locked from the outside in..._the curse.._

And Beast Boy noticed the glowing mark, the same one Scorpio had on her back.

Scorpio wouldn't move. She was just staring...staring...not really belonging to this world anymore. The dark haired boy was smiling broadly, as if he had been waiting his whole life for something this wonderful to happen.

"Robin, get her out of here!" Beast Boy yelled at Robin, who was standing in front of Scorpio. Beast Boy began pulling on Scorpio's arm. "We...have...to get...her...out of here!" Scorpio wouldn't move. Cyborg pulled out his laser cannon and pointed it at the boy, when suddenly a flash of harbor water hit all of the Titans right over head. The ice pins holding the two down melted and the dark haired boy, the taller, and Scorpio vanished before anyone could say anthing else.


	14. Chapter 14: Welcome Back

**Disclaimer - I do not own Teen Titans, but I do own Scorpio. When I do own TT, you'll all notice the awesome changes I'd have made...smiles**

**Chapter 14: Welcome Back**

Scorpio awoke to voices, loud but distant and muffled.

"You did WHAT!"

"I gave her Sagittarius Root."

"How could you? You know how long I've been waiting for that to happen!"

"Your desires are not of our master's interests, nor of mine."

"I'll kill you!"

"You want to try?"

Scorpio could smell vomit and taste it in her throat, and the voices, though muffled, she recognized. The only light now coming into the room was a light, gray, fogged mist that came in through squares. It was obvious she was in a cellar, or a dungeon. Anywhere, but not in the tower. She noticed her arms and ankles were tied to the cold stone wall behind her, scarlet with rust.

Sagittarius Root was a heavy drug. It was used in Saphiria to lift curses and sometimes kill people; that would explain the smell. On the ground there were 2 bowls, one with water and one with yellowish strings: Sagittarius root. Scorpio had the longing to flow the water out of the bowl and into her pocket, just to check in the communicator was still there. But she had been under Sagittarius Root before, when the Aries Elite had taken her mother, and she knew it blocked her power for at least 24 hours.

Scorpio's eyes then opened wide, realizing that she had been under _Jet's_ curse, and Jet was a sick bastard, to say the least. She bit her lower lip and looked down at her clothes, to see if Jet had gotten what he wanted all these years...

--------xXx------

The Titans were in the main room: Robin at the moniters, Starfire and Cyborg on the couches, Raven at the kitchen table drinking tea, and Beast Boy sitting cross legged on the kitchen counters. One thing was the same about all of them, looks of discouragement stained their faces, and tears could be seen on Beast Boy's.

"They've destroyed her communicator," Raven said, breaking the silence.

Robin's temples trembled and he slammed his fist on the keypads, resulting only in a small jump from Starfire.

"Friend Robin, please, we will find Scorpio, but we must be patient," Starfire said to him gently.

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah, man. There isn't a theif out there who's stupid enough to leave the kid wired. 'Sides they probably aren't even on Earth anymore..."

Raven almost choked and Beast Boy looked up. Cyborg was right. They may have destroyed her communicator, but they may have taken her back to...

"We have to save her!" Beast Boy said suddenly, blocking tears. "They'll kill her!" His eyes squeezed tight and a tear escaped him. He sighed heavily and said more quietly, "they'll kill her..." Robin and Cyborg exchanged looks of oddity, thinking that Beast Boy only wanted to save Scorpio because of the curse she had set on him. But Beast Boy missed every part of her, her smile, her laugh, her eyes. And only once did he think of her mark.

"They won't kill her, Beast Boy," Raven assured him, though she knew they probably would.

------xXx------

No, Jet had _not _made love to her when she was vulenerable, and she could tell. The only article of clothing that had been removed was her blue hoodie, which was now tied tightly to her waist to prevent her mark from glowing and showing. Luckly, under it was her favorite white tank top, still it wasn't the warmest thing in the cold cellar. Her belt was still on the same way she had put it on her khakis, and even her shoes had not been removed. But the rusty chains were tightly around her wrists and ankles, and, besides the vomit smell of Sagittarius weed, that was the worst part of all.

Scorpio now heard foot steps approaching, soon to find a tall, red haired boy with amber eyes infront of the cellar. Jet, a bit shorter, behind him with a silver key.

"Take that water out of there," the red head instructed to Jet, who was working on the lock. "24 hours will come to pass, and we can't have any of your type's witch works over here." He was insulting Jet, too, but Scorpio didn't say anything. She just stared at the red head until he left the hallway.

Jet was infront of her now, and she was sweating like hell. _Don't come near me..._

He wasn't smiling or even saying anything that she would expect him to, like "long time no see", or "I bought our future house on the Tavis beaches." She lowered her eyebrows and looked away from him, turning as much as the stone wall behind her would allow.

He sighed and picked up the water. "Are you thirsty?" He asked her.

"What do you care?"

"Seriously. Are you thirsty?"

"Get away from me, Jet. Go follow your little red friend."

"OK, but I'm not allowed to give you water until we reach Saphiria. Slade's orders."

She couldn't believe him. He had admitted to it, there, infront of her. He had taken her from her friends, cursed her, drugged her, and now he was telling her when she could and couldn't drink.

"Come to think of it, I am thirsty. Bring that bowl over here." She waited for Jet to bring the bowl to her lips and then nudged it with her head, getting Jet's black hair and face wet with dirty water.

She stared at him, expecting insult, or even abuse. But he did neither. Instead her wiped his face on his sleeve and left the cellar, closing the door behind him.

He came back when he was dried off and sat in the cellar bench, staring at Scorpio and smiling slightly.

"Stop looking at me, _shyster,_" she told him, angry and upset enough to use a Saphirian swear word.

He grunted. "Why do you hate me? You've always hated me and I've never done anything to hurt you."

Her face flared with anger. "You think these chains aren't hurting me? And my friends, you took me away from my friends!"

"I can unlock the chains if you want me to," he said, eyeing the blood oozing down from her wrists.

"I don't want you to," she said coldly. She wasn't going to let him have the pleasure of her dependency on him.

There was a long silence, and in it Scorpio realized how much Jet had changed. He was now about 17, about Cyborg or Robin's age and he looked a bit shorter than Starfire. His hair was not long, but not too short either. His eyes were still icey blue, taking after his Piscean mother.

"Why, Jet?" She asked him, remembering Beast Boy's dream as a tear fell down her dirty cheek. "You've went against your own people, you know that? How can you..." Her voice was broken and shattered, but full and deep all the same. She turned away from him. "You've went against everything you've ever known."

He sighed heavily and got up. Scorpio was actually thankful that the red head boy had been there. Leaving Jet to his own intuitions was dangerous when they were alone. The red head came by again and eyed Jet. "Time to go," he said sternly, opening the cellar. Jet would never let anyone tell him what to do, and Scorpio was confused at his sudden actions. Jet left the cellar, giving Scorpio a slight smile when he closed it. She spit in his direction, her face red and hot with tears.

Jet left the cellar, and after a long argument, the red head agreed to watch Scorpio's cellar and Jet would watch the gates, much to his disappointment. She tried once more to free herself from the chains, but it only resulted in more blood and dirty looks from the red headed gaurd.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**I wanted to thank you all for your reviews, Gaurdiangirl and Tired of Being. Glad to say that I can update almost everyday. If you have any Questions or you're getting lost, Email me at or catch me on AIM with my new SN: AnglesKeeper112 **


	15. Chapter 15: Torin

**Disclaimer - When you notice that Titans East was destroyed, that would mean I finally did own Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 15: Torin**

It was midnight, and still the Titans had no idea where the captures had taken Scorpio. Ever since she had fallen into that boy's trance, ever since she had left them...it all seemed like it happened a million years ago. But it didn't. It had happened only hours ago, and Raven cringed at the things the Libran Lord would do to her.

There was something that Raven could, probably should, have told Beast Boy. She had many other books on Saphiria, and many books dedicated to the Scorpions, on her dusty shelves. But they wouldn't be of much help to him. They were not magic, merely history, and the only one about the Scorpions that he would actually want to read was written in Saphirian. But there were other things too. Things that would lift the curse, things that would have been easy for her to get...other things...

Another Scorpion Book she had _was _magic, one written by Scorpio for Scorpio, her journal that only Beast Boy and Scorpio would be able to open.

Beast Boy was unaware, and now he was on his upper bunk, looking out the window. He couldn't sleep, not now, probably not until they found her. He knew he needed rest, but he was afraid. Afraid of what his dreams would bring him, but excited all the same. If he had no dreams tonight that would mean they had killed her, and if he did have dreams then what would they mean? Would they even be important?

Beast Boy heard a quiet knock on his door. He transformed into a kitten and jumped down, transformed back into a person and then opened the doors. It was Raven, holding about 13 books piled high infront of her. She walked in, her purple bath robe trailing behind her, and set the books down on Beast Boy's desk. "We have to talk," she said sternly to Beast Boy, who wore his confused expression on his face.

"About what?" He picked up one of the books on top, one with a brown, leatherish cover and a red metal lock. Raven snatched it from him and set it aside.

"About Scorpio and where she could be right now and whether or not we can sav her from the Libran Lord and Slade," she said quikly, pushing the books over and searching through them.

"But they took her communicator, and everything...she might not even be in this dimension anymore..." He said, looking at the locked book. "And what's that? Why can't I read it?"

"I don't want you too, not yet. It's Scorpio's journal and it should only be used as a last resort," she pulled it up to examine the cover. "It might not even have much information in it anyway. Just thoughts and feelings," she said, smirking at Beast Boy for reasons unknown. He was staring at it wide eyed, almost drooling.

"Well...well...well...we should look at it first then, you know...It's uhm...a first person resource. It would be the most useful," he said, reaching for it. She held it up.

"Not yet," her smirk disappeared. "That's a direct invasion of privacy. It's not fair. Even if they were to kill--" She stopped and swallowed. "Just...not yet."

--------xXx--------

The red headed gaurd had told his other red headed friend to come over. He was not an apprentice, but he was of Saphiria. She could tell. When he reached the cellar he looked at their prisoner and his expresion changed from a stern line to a smirk.

"You got yourself a Scorpion, Torin?" He asked the red headed apprentice, who Scorpio guessed was Torin.

"Aye. Two of them actually. One of the devils is working for the master." Torin took another sip of Saphirian wine and passed a bottle to his friend.

"Jet, is it?" His friend popped the glass bottle open and looked at Scorpio, arms abover her and ankles still chained in rust, and then smirked again. "Heard that them Scorpions were nothing but child bearing machines," he said to Scorpio, smirking again.

"_Scoit au bess ya shyster," _she said to him loudly, looking him in the eye. His smirk disappeared and he turned to Torin, who was still drinking his wine.

"Did you hear what she said to me, Torin?" He asked him.

"Aye. The question is, did you understand it?" Torin laughed heartily and stared at his dumbfounded friend. He had never learned Saphirian, there was really no need to. It wasn't even used in Saphiria, only in literature. "She said you're a dirty bastard and told you to shut up."

"I'll kill her for--"

"Cool down, Ralio. I'd be saying worse if I was stuck in a postion like that," Torin said, annoyed. He took another long gulp. Scorpio was shocked he was taking her side, especially against this almost identicale replica of him. "Besides, when Slade gives the orders we're shipping her back off to the Librans."

"For gold? What good would it do?" Ralio pulled a stool and sat down across from Torin. "That man's got 2 damn good apprentices that can rob any bank they want, and he's after gold?"

Torin shoke his head. "Aries Soldiers. He's after soldiers. With enough of them he can take over the city, and more probably. Heard he's getting about 4 million for both of them."

Scorpio heard every word, regretful really. Jet had served Slade well and now he was going to turn both of them in? She had told him. She had known. But Jet could be as stubborn as anything when he wanted to be. She guessed he wanted to believe. That when after everything was over, he would take her to a house on the Tavis beaches. That she would be able to see Nem again; she missed her so much. She had the urge to ask about her, but it wouldn't be wise.

"You heard that? Libran Lord is going to have a lot of fun with 2 Scorpions," Ralio joked. It was obvious that both were getting drunk, especially Torin, who was smiling awkwardly at the wall infront of the damp cellar. "Especially you." He smirked at her again. "Torin, open the cellar. We should have some fun before she goes."

Scorpio's eyes grew wide and she stared at him, pleading with her eyes not to open the cellar, to leave her be, to return her to her friends.

"_Scoit au bess ya shyster," _Torin told him loudly again. "There isn't a need to taint your insides or your sick desires with Scorpions." He threw the empty bottle on the floor and it shattered into millions of pieces. "8th house of the stars has enough." Ralio was disappointed. Without warning he shot a string of fire with his finger through the cellar doors onto Scorpio's left wrist chian, heating it almost instantly. Scorpio screamed with pain, a high pitched empty echo that shrilled her to the bone. She tried to wriggle free, but it was no use. She grimaced her teeth and shot him another glare.

"That's enough fun for one day," he told Torin, who was almost asleep. "Good nigh, Scorpion."

-----xXx-----

Beast Boy was staring out the window, staring at nothing in particular and everything in general.

"You could help me look, you know," Raven told him, throwing a book at the back of his head.

"I want to read the journal."

"I'm not going to let you."

"We have no other evidence, Raven. If this is her journal, and it _is_ a first person resource, we _should _use it. It makes sense."

"To you. You don't have a journal, you don't know how personal it can be--" She stopped, but Beast Boy had heard enough. She blushed and continued looking.

"So...you have a journal?"


	16. Chapter 16: Mine is Yours

**Disclaimer - If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't be writing fan fiction.**

**Chapter 16: Mine Is Yours**

Yeah, she had a journal. So what? She _was_ a person after all, and that journal was the only place she could spill herself, not caring about what the world thinks. Her journal was her only real friend, the only friend that knew her. She shot Beast Boy a stern look and moved her eye brows down.

"So what if I do have a journal?" She asked him, picking up Scorpio's own journal and inspecting it.

"Nothing..." Beast Boy said, thinking about all of the places Raven might hide something that precious. "It's just...well...I never really thought you would have something...like...you know...like that..."

He had said it to her face. See. See? He had broken the surface she thought she had been imagining. She pierced her lips together, and closed her eyes tight, turning the other way.

"Are you OK?"

"You're right," she told him, swallowing. "I'm not that kind of person." And she kept looking.

------xXx------

Scorpio's wrist burned and hurt like hell. That bastard. She had known it. Slade really was a madman, and the biggest traitor she knew. He would trade in Jet for Aries Soldiers. And Scorpio, cold and alone with blisters the size of golf balls on her wrist, imagined worse of what the Libran Lord would do to them. Burn them, hang them, cut them to pieces and send them to their last living relitives. She shuddered.

Jet appeared in the door way, the first person to see her since Torin left. He had a bowl of water with them and a cloth, and an angry expression on his face. He came up to her and busted the chain that held her burned wrist. She pulled it away from him.

"Don't touch it," she hissed. "I want to leave, to go back to Titans Tower. To be with my friends." She paused and looked at him, still angry. "Slade is going to turn you in too...to the Libran Lord. Don't you care?"

He had put the water on the table and the cloth, sitting next to them. He sighed and moved his hand through his hair. "I know that," he said to her, getting up. "But there isn't much I can do." He took her wrist, and she let him have it. He dampened the cloth and tied it tightly around her wrist. She bit her lower lip enough for it to bleed and looked at him. Vague. Lost. Obvious.

"When you were under my curse," he told her, glazing his eyes with memory. "I wanted to take you back to Tavis, right there. I'd been waiting for it so long, Rella." He said, smiling as he tied the cloth. "I don't want anyone but you, you know that? And when Slade actually came to our dimension looking for people who didn't know you, I volunteered. I wanted to see you again."

"What about Nem?" She said, almost whispering. "What happened to Nem? Is she OK?" He let go of her wrist and she examined it.

"Nem is still Nem," he said; remembering the happy-go-lucky girl who did not belong. "She's as beautiful and energetic as she has ever been. She turned 12 last...June...was it? Yes, June." He smiled and sat back down on the table. "She misses you a lot."

"I miss her," Scorpio said in her whisper. She wasn't going to get anywhere. Jet still loved her, in his own twisted fate, and Nem was alone in a convent filled with Scorpion Nuns and Gemini monks. She didn't belong there. She needed to get out of Saphiria, to come to Earth. To leave. And Jet would not help Scorpio do that. He was sending her back. Back to those damned convents and their classes. She had loved it once, and now she never wanted to go back. They had taken her mother. They had killed her father. Her anger rised...

"Rella, is something wrong?"

The water next to Jet vibrated, moving the bowl with it. It burst out of the bowl like a gyser and freezing cold water rained down on Jet.

"I want to get out of here!" She screamed. "I want to leave!"

"Rella--Don't!"

--------xXx-------

They had found nothing. Nothing that would help them. Nothing that would serve them. Nothing. And now all they had infront of them was Scorpio's journal. Untouched. Glowing in a beam that Raven's journal glowed in, feelings and emotions and misted minds. Raven held it with a steady hand.

"It's our last resource," Beast Boy said matter-of-factly. "Just open it, Raven. What do we need? A key? A locket?"

"Neither," said Raven in a heavy sigh. "Nothing...of matter really. She picked up another book and pointed to a picture of millions of people that looked like Scorpio, all moving. Beast Boy gasped and Raven slapped him on his shoulder.

"Shut up," she hissed. She pointed to a younger one of the many, and the picture cleared out to show only her, shoulders smoothed and body delicate, wearing a silk red robe. She looked a lot like Scorpio, but words under the picture showed "_Rella, daughter of Noir"_

"Whose Rella?" Beast Boy asked quietly, getting over the shock.

"Shut up!" Raven whispered a little louder.

Beast Boy yawned. It was still dark outside, but he watched the girl. She was crying, crying and crying, creating a river of tears below her. She looked up at Raven and Beast Boy, with anger mostly, and cried some more.

"What's wrong with her?" Beast Boy asked, confused as usual.

Raven actually answered. "That's Scorpio," she said sadly. "She's sad...she's afraid of the convent."

"Who were all of those people behind her?"

"The Scorpions before her that felt the same way."

They had mostly been female, as Beast Boy had noticed. "They are lost in time," Raven said. "Searching for their meanings." Raven closed the book and looking at Beast Boy. "Transform into a Scorpion," she told him randomly.

"What?"  
"Just do it."

He obeyed, landing on the table, small and deadly.

Raven moved back a little bit and threw the book next to Beast Boy. "Put your stinger in the lock," she told him.

Of course. It had been so obvious. Open and obvious and easy to figure out. Of course, of course. It had been so easy...

He did as he was told, and when he heard a faint clicking sound he transformed into a human almost instantly and held the journal in his hands. Raven snatched it away from him.

"No," she said, as if talking to a child. "If anyone is going to read it, I am. And I don't think Scorpio would trust you reading something this personal..." She looked at the book, open. It smelled a lot like bazil and wine.

"What! But that isn't fair!" Beast Boy complained, trying to get it back. "How would you know if she'd trust me or not?"

"Why do you even want to read it, Beast Boy?"

He flushed in the darkest red next to blood, feeling heat rise to his face. Why did he want to read it? He didn't know...he didn't know...


	17. Chapter 17: Agreements

**Disclaimer - If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't be writing fan fiction. DUH!**

**Chapter 17: Agreements**

_July 23, Year 13_

_Dear Journal,_

_Our town, though mocked with lack of economy and government, I think, is a prize within itself. How our diversity sets us apart fromt the Libran towns of Tavis and Umbra! The thin, golden, blonde hair of the Gemini and and Libran; soft and almost white. Their gray eyes, piercing us with their laugh, their social ability that no other signs have. Their mark, right under their chins. The fair, golden brown hair of the Cancer and the Picsean, waving in flags of homely touches. Their marks, between their breasts, glowing in a blue aura that can enchant us, their love for their families unmatched. The dark, umber hair of the Tarus, the Tariun, the Virgo and their Vigins; their marks glowing on their foreheads or their knees...their stubborn ways unliked but loved. The red, amber hair set atop the heads of the Aries elites and the Leonine, like fire on a match, their pride booming. Their marks on their heads, on their necks...set aside. They long for Pride...journal...I long for meaning. For of all the colors and signs I could have been, in their majesty, I was born of Scorpion Blood._

_Monk Terrace said that I should be proud, "Elemental skills, Rella. You'll understand when you are older." I don't understand, and I don't really want to. It is easy for him to say. The only Scorpions here are the nuns who long for the touch of a monk, staying Scorpion virgins against their will. "Child bearing machines, we are," Jet tells me often. I don't listen. What, journal, has Monk Terrace has to fear? He is a Gemini, witty and smart and talkitive. He knows nothing of the secrets our Scorpion brothers share._

_On a less serious note, my mark is becoming a pain in the--back--...it's a pun, get it? Any way, it glows without me aware of it, during church and prayer, infront of the younger Cancers who giggle and stare at me and Jet. He's about as embarrassing as embarrassing can get._

_The convent in itself is not as bad as Mama sized it up to be. Gladly enough, she is here with us. I am happy. With out her and Nem by my side I would have gone insane with monks and nuns telling me what to do and yelling at me when I get the chance. The nuns shoot me looks of disapproval, I really can't stand them. Like right now, Sister Mya is telling me that I should stop writing. She's taking away the pen as I--_

_OK, I got my pen back. I hate Sister Mya._

_-Rella_

Raven straightened, her eyes fogged with memory. A page in a page of many, but one of the most finely written. Scorpio's life in Saphiria reminded her of her own life in Azarath, the diversity of the people, the monks staring down with looks of disapproval...waiting...waiting...waiting behind convent walls for the world to accept her. That she was the daughter of evil and the purest person on Earth was teaching her. Cold humor rattled down her spine.

Raven had insisted she stay out of the search, which Robin and the others were holding at the harbor of Scorpio's disapperance. After recovering from his blushing fit, she had given Beast Boy a plan. She would read it all over and only let him read the parts that he would understand (both parts written in English and maturity, luckly all of it was in English). "She is a girl", she had explained, "and so am I." It had nothing to do with gender. Beast Boy's desire was to see if she had written anything about him, or anything explaining how her body look like without her cloak on. She knew, she had read his mind...unfortunatly. He had no other choice. She would not accept his "lets both read it plan" so the next best thing was listening to hers.

Right now, there were 5 key elements that would aide the Titans in their search:

1. Traveling to Saphiria required the burning of Aqurian Birch, as Raven had known.

2. The Libran Lord paid heavy prices for Scorpions, as Scorpion shelling is expensive and he hated the "devils" in the first place.

3. Scorpio's original plan had been to flee Saphiria to Azarath, which explained why she knew about it.

4. Scorpio's real name was Rella and her mother had been kidnapped from Saphiria on her 14th birthday.

5. Nem and the others might have already been killed.

Scorpio's last entry had been written on Earth.

_November 1, Year 15_

_Dear Journal,_

_Today I am 15, and still alive, not married off like those who came so many years before me. I am living on Earth with 5 new friends, saving people of their city. Their names are: Raven, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy._

_I don't deserve them, journal. I've always had the worst luck until I came here. I owe them. Raven is patient, but blunt and unmoving. She's about as deep as they come, journal. And Robin, who is shelled and caked over with pride, trains and trains everyday. He is driven, but sometimes too obvious, I think. Starfire, bubbly and happy-go-lucky all the time, reminds me so much of Nem, but much taller. And Cyborg, who is gentle for someone his size._

_There's Beast Boy, poor, poor Beast Boy; forced under a curse I cannot control. Forced to dream the dreams I dream, forced to follow me through blind dark._

_Shalt beyond the hottest fire, _

_Go beyond the heart's desire,_

_To please, respect, and account thou's sire._

_Shining armor thou shall ark,_

_And follow thou's love through blind dark..._

_Once set eyes on the Scorpions' Mark..._

_That Gypsy, smiling, making me feel naked and open enough for me to look down and check if my clothes are still there. And Nem, crying on Jet's shoulder, Jet telling her that I'll come back. I want to go back and get her, not to stay. And Jet, piercing my skin with a kiss on my neck, drawing blood that covers my sides...All of it and Beast Boy watches._

_I fear, journal, not of darkness or of evil. I fear not of the Libran Lord or what I will have to do to save Beast Boy. I fear of God and only God, and death._

_As it is written in "The Scorpion Destiny", Noirians 5:16:_

_"They shall curl in utter blindness, suffer an eternity of pain, and spill the contents of their minds on to the pavement of society; just as those who fell under their curse. They will see the blindness they have caused to those pitied souls. They shall lose everything they have come to love and cherish, to hate it and despise it...Though it will be loving them still...But they are curled in their blindness, seeing nothing of anything, trapped alone in a world of their own creation. Drowning in the oceans of their tears."_

_That is what I fear. And you'd fear it too, journal. I know you would._

_-Rella_

Raven's eyes grew wide, her body tence and unsure. Of course. That made perfect sense. That would be the pain she would suffer. That is why they would kill her and watch, to see the pain...

A tear actually fell from Raven's eyes, not from sadness, but from pity. How could they be heartless enough to watch a young girl go through this, her secrets ripped from her mind, her body shuddering..._curling_...Raven could almost imagine it.

---------------xXx-------------

Things were not going so well at the harbor. Any sign of evidence had been washed away in the 24 hours that Scorpio had been taken or washed with the drift of the sea. Starfire had taken to the skies, Cyborg had started to moniter any communicator signals, Robin was asking the locals for anything strange, and Beast Boy had scouted the seas.

"ROBIN! Robin!" Beast Boy gasped, out of breath and wet with water. "Something--in the sea---in the water---60 feet!" He paused and took another breath, broken and hurt. "There's something in the water!" He said finally and raced back to the shore.


	18. Chapter 18: The Undergrounds

**Disclaimer -I don't own Teen Titans...that is...unti...I saw this awesome Beast Boy costume at the mall...**

Guy in BB costume: Can I leave now? I'm not Beast Boy...my name is--

Me: Shut up, BB. You know who you are.

Guy in BB costume: But my mom is at home, making cookies. And I want one. And I need this costume for Halloween--

Me: SHUT UP BB!

**Chapter 18: The Undergrounds**

She had transformed, against her will. She didn't know how, or why. It was her nature, her burning desire to become what she was; blood thirsty and mysterious, elemantle and deadly. Her element, water, was with her. Her power had returned. And though she did not know it quite yet, she knew that it was dangerous for her to do something without control. To become whas she was inside. Jet watched as she shrunk, her arms getting shorter, her fingers growing closer together to form pincers. She felt small spikes escape her spine and pierce her skin, creating a long line of pointed bumps down her back; her mark disappearing. It no longer needed to be there, she was what she was. He had tried to stop her, but nothing would be able to. The chains rattled as her body grew smaller, finally, until she was what she was meant to be: a scorpion.

The Sagittarius Root had worn off, thankfully. Her element returned to her, filling her blood with the pride and joy, the happiness she longed for. Her clothes outgrew her as she shrunk and she climb over them, scattering out of the lowest grid of the cellar before Jet could stop her.

-------------XxX----------------

"Beast Boy!" Robin yelled back, leaving the local he had been talking to. "Beast Boy!" He ran after him as quikly as possible. Beast Boy had not went into the water yet. He was waiting by the water, waiting for Robin and the others to follow. He turned to Cyborg who had just arrived with Robin. Starfire swooped down as well.

"There's a really high frequency down there, Cy," Beast Boy explained, hope lifting his voice. "I think there might be a hide out down there! Really!"

Cyborg lifted his arm and a small satellite popped out from his finger, circling in a round motion and beeping. Cyborg kneeled down next to the water and the beeping instantly started to get faster and louder. "Man!" Cyborg complained. "There _is_ high frequency. We should probably go get the T-sub and--"

"NO!" Beast Boy yelled. "No...I mean...I can just go down there and check..."

Starfire jumped up. "But Beast Boy, it is...dangerous in the water. And with Slade..."

"Star's right," Robin continued. "It is dangerous. It's better if we all go down together."

"But...but...they're _expecting_ the T-sub! They aren't expecting a green fish," Beast Boy complained. Cyborg smirked, lifting his left brow.

"Aww...'ain't that cute, Robin?" He asked, nudging Robin with his elbow. "BB wants to save his little--"

"Shut up!" Beast Boy yelled, scarlet faced and starting to sweat. "I'm worried about her," he said, calming down. His heart stung. There was his chance to save her, to be _her_ hero, and Cyborg was shooting him down.

"It's dangerous, Beast Boy. If you do go down there, you'll need weaponry. You don't know what you are up against," Robin told him.

Robin, always telling them what to do. No, he would save her, no matter what it would take from him. He would. But at the same time, he wanted to read the parts of the journal that Raven would let him. If he saved her and she returned, he would never be able to. But he wanted to save Scorpio more.

"No," he said seriously, turning to the water. "I'm not going with you in the T-sub, I'm going to find her. I miss her. And I'm worried." His voice was as serious as it had ever been. He jumped into the harbor, transforming into a fish and swimming into the depths before anyone else said anything.

------------XxX---------------

She ran quikly, scattering fast before anyone could stop her. Part of her mind remained human, the part that she could not control, the part that controled her most of the time. Her talents, her emotions, her life...it was not of animal, but of human. And right now it was driving her to the exit. The exit that she could not find.

The hallways were covered in red carpetry, ram hair dyed red of course. But there were no windows, not from where she could see. She kept running, hearing Jet's fading voice behind her. _Wait, stop, your clothes..._she could not go back to get them. Not now. She didn't care if everyone was to see her naked, as long as she would escape.

_Naked! _Damn it. She had been so stupid, so angry, her nature. _"You are talented, Rella. You will go far..." _The voices continued in a string of thought across her mind. She needed to escape!

The hallways turned and twisted, many had corners and many had dead ends, but none had windows. Everything was dark, only illuminated by light bulb or candle. She could no longer hear Jet's voice any more. She had lost him; her red color on the red carpet. _Yes!_

Only one problem remained. Her postion, her emotions afterward. When she had opened her journal after Raven had given it to her, she had tried as much as possible to stay in her room after transformation; afterward, when her Scorpion soul really _did_ control her, when she wanted nothing but everything of the 8th house. Everything...everything...everything that she did not want but somehow needed...passion, love, control, intimacy, family, secrets...

She climb onto a wall, her body small and shivering. The air was cold and damp, and the vomit smell was still about her. She needed a higher place to see, to fly. Why hadn't she had transformed into a phoenix? Was that not of the 8th house? Why not a phoenix, or an eagle, or a serpant? They were all of the 8th house...

She knew why. She had transformed into a phoennix only once, once when she had felt so angry and distracted. She had burned all of her clothes, and most of her mother's old house. She had transformed into a serpant once when she was embarrassed, so embarrassed that she had transformed without controlling it. Only to be embarrassed far more when she transformed back into a human against her control, in her room infront of Nem. And an eagle, once, with control, when she wanted to soar above the clouds and escape on her 14th birthday. But she had done those all only once, and the only time in her absentmindedness. Now, though she could control her scorpion self, and though it took a lot of power to transform, she had. She needed clothes...

Her hopes lifted when she saw one of Torin's cloaks on the wall, hanging from a loose hook. It was orange and had yellow sleeves, not her favorite 2 colors in the world but they would have to do. She jumped from the wall right under the cloak...listening for Jet's voice or foot steps. Nothing. None. She had to think...control..._human_...

When she opened her eyes again she was a lot taller, her hair damped and spilled about her shoulders, her body shivering and pricking with goose bumbs, her legs numb. She waited another second for her tail to disappear, and when it did she sighed in relief, only to be shook by reality. She was naked, she needed the cloak.

She slipped on over her shoulders and pulled it down. It went well beyond her feet, and it smelled like birch wine. _Egh..._ Torin was such a drunk. She needed to get out, to find a window.

_--------------_xXx-------------

He had to go down deep, deeper and deeper into colder water. He had heard the frequency, they were down there. All of them. And if they hadn't had killed Scorpio yet--

Killed. Death. Gone. They wouldn't. Not now, not when he was about to save her. Not when he was about to be _her_ hero. _No..._

There it was, at least...what he thought it was. A large, tin box, much like a house with no roof. No windows, only about 50 tanks of oxygen attached with pipes to the tin house. It was giving off bubbles, small but there. Beast Boy shrunk into a smaller fish, wondering how he was going to get into the house without busting something open. He could break one of the tanks and cut through the pipes, but it would be too obvious. He needed to think big...

Or did he? There were cracks, there had to be. Something that poorly put togther had to have a flaw, but where? And when he found that, where would Scorpio be? Did he even want to find out?

He came closer, shrinking even smaller and smaller, until he was about a milimeter long. Good. He looked about the large area before him. There it was, a crack! Awesome. He squeezed through and looked about him before transforming to normal size.

------------xXx------------

Robin burst into the main room doors, calling Raven's name. She looked up from the journal, frightened but calm. She pulled her cloak on and met him in the main room.

She raised an eye brow.

"Beast Boy found something in the harbor, high frequency. He dove in before we could tell him not to," Robin said with dissappointment. "We came to get the T-sub, and you."

She raised her eye brow again. "Something in the harbor?"

Starfire nodded solemly. "He went in before we could convince him."

"That dude's crazy about Scorpio," Cyborg added, grinning inside. "It has to be that curse."

"It's not," Raven said in defence. No. It wasn't. He was not of Saphiria, it should not have affected him at all. But her missed _her_. He worried about _her_. Not her mark. "Let's go then."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	19. Chapter 19: Truths Untold

**Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, but I got a chance to interview Scorpio for you crazed fans! Corny, I know. But I think it was enjoyable. I had to take her out of the fic for a while, so you guys owe me.**

**Me: So, Scorpio--may I call you Scorpio? Or do you prefer Rella?  
Scorpio: Scorpio's fine. **

**Me: Right. Scorpio, OK. So, in the fic, Beast Boy has a huge crush on you, and well... a lot of peeps think it's the curse. Is it?**

**Scorpio: -moving uncomfortably- Um...That's...kind of personal. I don't really know if he does or not. Not yet anyway. Is that a problem?**

**Me: NO! NO! Of course not, I'm sure many of our fic's boy fans have a crush on you. Isn't that right, boy fans?**

**Boy fans: -blush- Err...**

**Scorpio: -moving uncomfortably again- Can I leave now?**

**Me: Anyway, so you come from Saphiria, is that correct?**

**Scorpio: Well you _did_ make the fic, I suppose you should know.**

**Me: I don't remember making you so sassy.**

**Scorpio: -eye roll- Can I please leave? **

**Me: OK, so, Cyborg doesn't really do much in the fic, right? Can you explain your relationship with Cyborg?**

**Scorpio: Yeah...he's fine. Really friendly. He just teases BB too much, for stupid reasons too. **

**Me: I see. And Raven. It is true that you wanted to go to Azerath. Did she say anything about that?**

**Scorpio: What? That was in my journal. How would Raven now something like--**

**Me: WELL! OK, that's the end of today's interview...**

**Scorpio: But what about my journal--**

**Me: On to the next chapter!**

**Chapter 19: Truths Untold**

He looked about him, his muscles tence and his fists clenched, prepared to fight whatever would come his way. But there was no one, no one in the dark hallways, no one within seeing range...

But something caught his eye in the end of the hallway. He turned slowly, his heart racing, only to find...

Scorpio, smothing an orange cloak with yellow sleeves down her hips, sighing slightly. He wanted to run to her, to hold her, to tell her that everything would be OK, to be _her_ hero.

But he was not crazy.

He transformed into a cat and started running towards her as quietly as he could, his green paws padding the carpet below him. When he was about a foot away from him he transformed back into a human, smiling broadly and searching her face.

_Since when were her eyes blue? _He thought to himself. _And since when did she had that smirk on her face--_

He didn't have time to think. "Beast Boy!" She cried in whisper, and then without warning swung her arms around his neck, holding his body close to hers.

He was shocked, but it had always been his dream to have her love him, at least...since she had come. He accepted the hug, holding her a bit under her shoulders so she wouldn't get the wrong idea. He was surprised at her cocky mood, her open and intense personality, and the way she was holding and looking at him...

She let go, not blushing at all, watching what Beast Boy would do next. He moved uncomfortably under her eyes, what was she expecting? More?

"I missed you," she said in whisper again, her hands still on his shoulders. She moved closer to him, her body cold; resting her head on his chest. She looked up. "Did you miss me?"

He could feel his face flare in red and pink. Of course he had missed her, but not _this_ her. What happened to the shy, beautiful, emotional girl? Where was she? And who was this open imposter who hadn't blushed once since their embrace? Or said anything of escape?

"Y-yea---yeah I m-missed you," he stammered. "I-I m-missed you a l-lot..." Shame rattled his spine. This was not Scorpio. Not the Scorpio he knew and missed.

"That's good," she said, smirking as she trailed her fingers off of his chest. "Then kiss me."

"Umm...what?"

"Ki--" Something cold landed on her head, something like...water? A large drop of water had fallen down and splashed her head, cold and unforgiving as it went down into her eyes. She bent over a little bit, wiping her eyes and blinking them a few times, moving from under the leak.

She opened her eyes again and looked at Beast Boy, his whole body blushed in red. And, as he noticed, her eyes had returned their usual murky dark black color, like the fur of a camel, iris viens stringed together and held tight with mystery. Her face went hot, realizing that she had not yet fully recovered from her scorpion transformation since Beast Boy's arrival, and she remembered everything that had just happened.

She moved away from him, her face growing reder by the minute. "Oh..um...Beast Boy...I'm so sorry, I'm really, really sorry. I...seriously I'm really sorry...Oh God..." she whispered, shaking her head, waiting. Beast Boy had read about Saphiria and he had known what she was under, a curse of her own. It was not she whom had offered the kiss, not the human soul that occupied her and caused her to be so wonderful, but the Scorpion soul who longed for _all_ of the 8th house...

"I'm really, really, really sorry, Beast Boy," she said again, her face not losing its scarlet color, her eyes staring at the ground. "I really didn't mean to...uhm...make you...to touch...er..."

"It's OK, really," he said, feeling the red of his cheeks die down. "I'm just glad I found you here. We have to get out." He felt a calm rush come over him. They would finally be free. She would finally be back with him at the Tower.

She shook her head. "Not yet. I have to find Jet. We have to bring him with us."

_Jet? JET! _He was the one whom had saved her, not that bastard. And what about all of the dreams? The way he looked at her, the biting kiss he had laid on her neck, her blood oozing down from his touch, her eyes pleading him no more. "What?" He said, speaking his mind. "Why don't we just get out of here?"

-----------xXx---------

The Titans were now infront of a large tin box, Cyborg complaining about the frequency of the inside.

"What are we going to do, Robin? Stand her and wait for this frequency to jam my wires? Agh!" Cyrbog clenched his fists. "We need a plan."

"I have a plan, Cyborg," Robin told him over his mouth piece. "Raven will take me and Starfire in, and you'll drive the T-sub back out to the harbor. When you get my signal, come down and get us."

Cyborg smiled dispite his pain. "Sounds good, man. Just hurry it up!"

Raven nodded and a black aura covered the threesome, then moved inside the tin box. Cyborg smiled to himself and drove the T-sub out of the water.

------------xXx-----------

"It's a very long story, Beast Boy. And we don't have time. It's crucial that we get him. He's part of Slade's plan to destroy the city." Scorpio was still blushing, despite the fact that Beast Boy was calm and that nothing else had happed since her Scorpion soul had embraced him. _That was Scorpio, _and Beast Boy smiled to himself.

"Do you know where he is?" He asked her, looking around him.

"No, I don't. Last I remember he was chasing me down the hallway, and after that...nothing..."

Beast Boy felt his muscles tence. _He was chasing her... _"He was chasing you? And you got away? That's great! You must be really fast--"

" No...no...see that's why I...I had to transform...to get out of the cellar...and he was chasing a red scorpion on a red carpet..." she smiled and blushed at the memory of leaving her clothes behind her. "That's why I'm wearing this, because--" she stopped. "Well...uhm...nevermind. We just need to find him."

Beast Boy nodded. "Any chance you can transform again? 2 small scorpions are better than 2 clumsy humans." He smiled at her, happy she was back. But he knew she couldn't.

"I can't," she answered coldly. "I just...I can't do it twice in one day and it's...very difficult for me to change. It's easy for you though. If you can transform into something small and I can call the Titans from here, we'll be even. I just need your communicator"

He reached in his pocket and gave it to her. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," she said in her velvet whisper. "And be careful. Think _small._"

He nodded and transformed into a chipmunk, running around the opposite corner. Scorpio opened the flap of the communicator and called Robin.

-----------xXx-------------

The black aura lifted from Starfire and Robin, both of them squinting at the heavy light of the bulbs and candles. There were in a large, concrete room, no windows or anything, but plenty of bulbs.

A ring came from Robin's pocket and he grabbed the communicator from his belt. Scorpio showed up on the screen.

"Scorpio!" Robin said. "Scorpio, can you hear me? Where are you?"

"I can hear you, and I don't know where I am. Where are you?" Scorpio's face blurred on the screen, probably a result from the high frequency.

"Scorpio! Scorpio!" Robin shouted at the communicator as he watched the screen go black. He flipped the cover back on and shook his head. The last words he had heard were "Slade" and "Beast Boy".

He turned to Raven and Starfire, who had looks of worry on their faces.

"Please...our friend Scorpio is...OK?" Starfire asked crossly. "She is unharmed?"

"I don't know," Robin offered. "But the signal was coming from in here, the map showed it. Wherever Scorpio is, we at least know that she is in here." Robin looked at the communicator again. "But we won't be able to use these." He put the communicator away in his pocket. "Let's go."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

**Short chapter, I apologize. Really, my fingers are as frigid as ice over hear, and I can't feel my toes! Agh! I hope you guys enjoyed. Apparently there are peeps out there who aren't reviewing by IMing me, no prob. My AIM SN is: AngelsKeeper112. Check out my myspace at **


	20. Chapter 20: Voices

**Disclaimer: You guys don't need any sort of disclaimer from me. You already owe me for that interview with Scorpio. Yeah, yeah...I had to tell her that Raven read her journal. I swear she transformed into a scorpion and bit me on the toe. It hurts! Then again, I do owe you for that crappy romance in the beginning. I'm really really sorry. I can't write romance for crap unless I plan it out.**

**Anyway, I think my Fic is getting pretty good. For those of you awaiting a kiss, it will happen if I get enough reviews, I promise you. So tell your buds about this fic, if you all love it so much. .**

**Chapter 20: Voices**

She had seen Robin's face, and Starfire in the background, and Saphirian torches. They were here with her, but she had not heard what Robin had said, or his location in the box. She pressed the communicator to her chest in pain from her wrist, which had swelled worse from all of the transforming.

_Don't hide what is in your heart, Rella, let me out..._

Her eyes went wide. No no no no no! Not this, not this! Please not this...

_Just give up. You can't stay mortal forever...just let me out and you will be happy... do not you want the intimacy you long for?_

"No!" She screamed in her thoughts, closing her eyes and holding her breath. "No, I don't! Get out!"

_I will never leave you, Rella. I'm here all the time. When you write, when you smile, when you cry, when others look at that body you've got. It's a waste. The 8th house is your home... _The same velvet voice spook to her, smooth and intense, ripening her mind with thoughts of her family, secrets she's kept, mysteries of Saphiria...

"Stop!" She screamed in her head. "Stop stop stop!"

_I will never leave you, dear Rella. I am who you are. Your blood, your mind, your ambitions, your body. You are not meant to be human, Rella. You were meant to be a scorpion. Transform...transform and become who and what you are._

Her mark was stinging like the flames of the sun, her mind was racing. It had to be mind control from Jet or Torin. Someone who had here this close to Saphirian things. Someone...

Her mind tilted the room grew hazy. She went blind and curled to the floor.

--------------------xXx-------------------------

Beast Boy, though small, would not be able to change his color. The carpet was red and he was green. He was as noticable as a walking talking Christmas.

So far he had not seen anyone. And even if he did find Jet, what would he say to him? The girl that you love wants you to come with us on our historic escape, with me? Did I mention that I love her too?

He transformed into a rabbit, a smaller one than usual. He would need to hear voices and steps, and then maybe transform into something less noticable. He heard them, steps and voices, muffled but clear enough to recognize.

"You let her go! To hell with you!" It was Slade, speaking as loud as he had ever spoken. Beast Boy had never seen him angry before. And when he was angry, he always had a smooth voice.

"Master! Please, it was not my fault. Transformation is complicated--" It was Jet's voice, afraid and vague as he had seen in his dreams. The dreams him and Scorpio shared. The dreams when he looked at her...he tightened his paw.

"Torin warned me of your type, Damn you! How could you let her escape? We had a deal!"

"Slade," Jet said angerly to him from around the corner. "I am no body's pet! Do you hear me you bloody bastard? I don't have to listen to anyone! Especially not a madman who has reincarnated after death! I take orders from no one! Do you understand me? I'll kick your mad arse back to hell!"

There was a flash of light, and then Slade's voice, something... The hallways got brighter and Beast Boy heard the cry of a bird. Of course. The phoenix. How stupid would Jet have to be to transform into a phoenix underwater? Or how angry?

Slade came running past the hallway, opposite the direction of Beast Boy, not even looking at the still rabbit. Jet, now a 7 foot long, fire winged bird, came flying after him, setting the carpet and the walls on fire. Beast Boy transformed back into a human, realizing that they weren't going to notice him in their affair already. How would he reach Jet? And what would he tell him?

--------------xXx---------------

_Tell the world your secrets, Scorpion, tell them what you've known..._

Scorpio could feel her hands trembling, her body becoming numb, the Sagittarius Root was killing her, that or something else. She had known... She had known...

The world tilted, her screams echoed into the hallways, her stomach empty, her eyes shut. She hated everyone at that moment, her parents, Nem, the Titans, Jet, everyone...

_Spill the burdens of your heart! Spill them like you've misled your curse, putting others under your spell...you and your scorpion ways. You will transform now, forever, die into the depths, an ocean of tears awaits you, dear Rella._

"Scorpio!" Raven's voice, shrill and caked with worry. "Scorpio! Robin, she's dying!"

"Get away from me!" Scorpio hissed in whisper. "Get away from me! _Trickoni au bess! Beddi moit, beddi moit!"_ She hated them, she hated them more than anything she had ever hated before. Why wouldn't they leave?

"What is wrong with our friend?" Starfire asked Raven, eyeing the squirming girl. "Is she not in pain?"

"She's dying, Starfire. I need Aquarian Birch, from there, over there!" Raven crouched down next to Scorpio and pointed to a pile of dark wood. "Hurry," she told them. "I might be able to save her."

"I'm a liar, a liar! A dirty liar! I've lied! I've lied to everyone I've ever known! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Scorpio was screaming at the top of her lungs as Raven held her squirming arms together. Her voice was cracked from its lack of usage. She had never been this loud in all of her life. "Let me go! I'm a Scorpion! Let me go! I've lied to you all!"

"Keep her quiet," Robin ordered. "If the fire spinner shots us here we can't escape." Robin crouched down next to Raven, staring at Scorpio who kept squirming and grunting and whining like a little child.

"That's kind of hard to do, Robin," Raven said, anger rising in her voice. "She's dying."

Starfire returned with some of the dark logs and placed them next to Raven, her green eyes dotted with tears of worry.

"Where's Beast Boy! I should have lifted the curse! I should have done something! And when I felt him, when I embraced him; I knew he was there! I'm a liar! A dirty liar!" Scorpio stopped squirming and calmed down. "Please! Please kill me off, rid me of this pain! Send me to Nem! Before I die, I want to see Nem! I want to apologize to my dear Nem!"

Raven took the birch and broke it, emiting a large amount of orange powder to come out. She dipped her hand in the powder and smeared it across Scorpio's forehead.

"_Saphiria, biete lel Scorpions, kedima lel hyial bint, triesta!" _Raven recited the verse as best she could, remembering it word for word from the Scorpion Destiny, Norians 5:20

Scorpio's eyes closed calmingly, an extremely strange, small smile on her face, her body returning its color. She stopped squirming.

"Is...did...is she dead?" Robin asked cautiously, his hands shivering.

Raven shook her head, her face sober. "She'll be OK for now. But we have to get her out of here. It's not safe for her to be this close to Saphirian things. Someone is trying to kill her."

Starfire was silent, feeling her tears come down her cheeks.

"We have to find Slade first," Robin protested. "It's better that way. He might be the one trying to kill her. If we stop him it--"

"No," Raven said simply. "I have to take her back to the tower. She'll die if she stays here."

-------------------xXx----------------------

Beast Boy ran after Jet, dodging the fire he was giving off.

"Jet! Jet wait!" He ran faster.

It was no use. Jet would not, or could not, hear him. He was squaking loudly and painfully, snapping at Slade as he burned the red carpets. He needed something to wake him...something like...water!

Beast Boy transformed into a rhino, running infront of Jet and slamming the wall with his horn. Water splashed the phoenix as it squeled in pain and melted back to the form of a human body, a burnt uniform covering his body. Beast Boy transformed back into a human and stuffed the hole with some large dark logs he had found. Slade was no where to be seen.

It was strange, looking at Jet lying on the floor. He had wanted to kill him, but now he looked so harmless and lost. And his clothes? When he had read about Saphiria, it had said that when a human would transform, it would leave all things human behind it. Why was Jet still in Slade's apprentice uniform?

He walked up to him and crouched down next to his head, looking at his closed eyes. He shook his shoulders.

"Uhm...Jet...Jet? Jet, wake up!" Jet would not answer.

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	21. Chapter 21: Lies

**Disclaimer: Unfortunatly for you, I do not own Teen Titans. **

**Any way, this chapter has a "Robin and Starfire-left-alone" moment. Nothing...um... "bad" happens, I promise.**

**I wanted to interview Scorpio again for you guys but she won't pick up.**

**Chapter 21: Lies**

"_Promise to come back for me, Rella? Do you promise?"_

_"Yeah, Nem. I promise. Just make sure you tell Sister Mya what I told you to tell her."_

_Nem, whom hates lying, wrinkles her nose in disapproval. "Why can't I come with you?" _

_"Because Nem, it's too dangerous..."_

_"Then why are you going. If it's dangerous for me then it must be twice as dangerous for you..."_

_"Don't worry..."_

_"But you'll die!"_

_"No, I won't. I promise."_

_"Promise?"_

_"Yes, I promise."_

There was a light, far up away from where Scorpio could feel herself, drifting in a sea of tears.

"Scorpio? Scorpio?" Raven was next to her, she could feel her, but she couldn't see anything. And Raven, who's flushed with worry, could only see Scorpio's glass eyes as they stared at the cieling.

She blinked a few times, wincing and squinting. Something in the room smelled heavy, something burning. She closed her eyes again and opened them, to find herself in the West Bay, Raven by her side.

"Raven, if you cared you'd kill me off now," Scorpio said, choking on the words as they escaped her.

Raven winced and reached for a glass of water. "Don't say that. You're alive, aren't you?"

"It's not worth it."

"Don't say that," Raven told her as she dabbed a cloth in the water and then placed it on her forehead.

"I'm not joking. I want to die."

Raven sighed heavily, looking at the moniters of the West Bay, glancing at Scorpio from the corner of her eye. "I'm not going to let you."

"_Kilei! Bedi moit!" _Scorpio hissed through clenched teeth as she sat up. "I want to die!"

Scorpio was unaware of Beast Boy, who was staring at the two through the door way, his eyes heavy. She looked at him now, her whole body numb. "Just kill me off!"

"Don't say that, Scorpio...please..." Beast Boy began, looking at the moniters to avoid her glare. "You made it out OK, and Jet's gone...forever."

"What?"

Raven and Beast Boy exchanged looks of distress. No one had told her. "He...didn't make it..." Beast Boy started, begging Raven to tell her.

"He died, Scorpio. I'm..._sorry..._" Raven winced at the words. Apologizing for something that wasn't her fault made no sense to her. But when Azar had died...when Azar had died...

Scorpio, who had jumped at the news and had sat straight up right in the bed, rested her head back down and turned the opposite way, facing the window. "I know," she started. "I felt him, his soul. When he left."

_I'm sorry, Rella. _

----------------xXx---------------

The only two left were Robin and Starfire. Raven had went against Robin's orders to take Scorpio back to the tower and Beast Boy had insisted he go with her. Cyborg couldn't get too close to their location because of the frequency.

They were walking down a burnt hallway after they had seen Jet's body, utterly useless and white.

"Slade is here," Robin told Starfire, looking at the ash covered walls. "I know he is."

Starfire nodded. Her heart was weak. In one day she had already seen 1 dead body and Scorpio squirming and screaming at the top of her lungs from pain. "Yes...but without our communicators we won't be able to track him."

Robin's mask twitched at the words. She was right. Without Cyborg and his gear, and without their communicators, tracking Slade's body heat would be rough. "There has to people down here..." Personally he was thinking that the fire spinner was still here, him and Slade. Without Raven and Beast Boy they couldn't contact Cyborg to bring the sub. They were stuck down here until one of them came back.

------------------xXx-------------------

Cyborg picked up his beeping communicator, only to find Beast Boy's worried face in the window.

"What is it, BB?" Cyborg asked.

"You have to go down and get Robin and Starfire, they're still down there."

"Where are you?"

The Communicator when black. Beast Boy had turned it off.

Scorpio had went back to sleep, her eyes still seeing that broad light, teasing her, mocking her. She couldn't die, she couldn't experience the light. She couldn't go back for Nem. Not any more.

"Is she OK?" Beast Boy asked the back of Raven's head, glancing at Scorpio's lower back.

Raven caught his eye. "She'll be fine if we can bring Nem over here."

"Nem?"

"Her sister. She only wants to die to contact her sister from the spirit world."

Beast Boy shuddered. "She misses her that much?"

Raven shrugged. "She promised her that she'd come back to save her. She never did. She's worried about her...whether she's still alive or not."

Beast Boy wrinkled his nose. "And you know this because..."

Raven didn't answer, but then turned to the moniters. "It's in her journal," she said in her usual low voice.

-----------------------xXx--------------------

Robin caught someone, running fast out from the hallway in an Apprentice uniform.

"Stop!" Robin yelled, running after him. The figure turned around and shot something from his hand: fire.

Starfire followed Robin as they both dodged the flames. Robin shot a flat ice disk at the appretice, freezing his entire body from his shoulders down to his ankles. He hit the floor.

Robin pushed his boot on the apprentice's chest. "Tell us where Slade is," he demanded, pulling his mask off.

He was about Robin's age, taller...maybe... with red hair and amber eyes that were full of hate. Neither Robin nor Starfire recognized him. "I don't have to answer to anyone," he answered, the ice melting off his body.

Robin pulled out his staff, crushing the ice on the apprentice's chest and pushing it harder to his skin. "It's your choice," Robin said sternly, pushing the staff with more force.

The apprentice spat to the side, looking at Robin with a smirk on his face. "He ran off, bird boy. Just like the rest of us. This place is going down."

There was a flash, an amber ball of flames enveloped the apprentice and burned Robin's boots, melting his staff. He pulled back and watched the ball grow smaller, the apprentice no longer there.

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**Sorry for the short chappy, guys. Promise the next one will be longer.**


	22. Chapter 22: Trapped

**Disclaimer: Unfortunatly for the world, I will probably never own Teen Titans...**

**Scorpio wouldn't pick up no matter how many times I called her, so I called Nem instead. I promise you an interview in Chapter 23.**

**Chapter 22: Trapped**

Nem was sitting on the white bench infront of the pond outside the convent, the moon high and the air cool. She pulled her blue cloak closer to her shoulders, staring at the reflection that stared back. She wasn't supposed to be out this late. But it wouldn't matter. She was old enough to make her own decisions. Sister Mya could give orders to someone else. She sighed and shivered, perking her head up when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You should be out this late." It was Kodio, smiling slightly as he pulled his brown monk cloak closer to his body.

Nem shrugged as he sat next to her. Kudio was one of her closest friend, the only person who possible missed Rella as much as she did.

"She's not coming back, you know." Kudio said quietly. "If she does, it won't be tonight."

That was Kudio. When she wanted comfort, he gave her facts. "You don't know that," Nem hissed at him, hurt.

He sighed, sorry that he had annoyed her. A string of water came out from the pond and followed the motion of Kudio's hands. He made it twirl in a small circle and put it infront of Nem, levitating away from her lap.

"This," he said to her, "is what we were made for." The string of water flowed like a shining ribbon and landed in the pond. "We were made to give our lives to the water, not to worry for Rella. She wouldn't want us too."

Nem looked at him, tears ready to fall from her eyes. He was a piscean, it was easy for him to say. He had come to the convents from free will, not from force. He had a future. Her only future was with Rella, to be with her and help her, to follow her where ever she went. To make fun of her and Jet, whom had also disappeared. To laugh at the memory of her phoenix transformation and their mother's burned house. To take interest in her Scorpion soul, the same soul her father had. "She's hurt, Kudio," Nem said in whisper. "I can feel it."

She fell on his chest, knowing that if they were to be caught they would both be killed. He picked up his hand tentivly, slowly brushing her fair hair, the way Rella used to.

------------------------xXx------------------------

"Where did he go?" Starfire asked Robin, looked at the burnt spot.

"We have to get out of here," Robin answered, throwing his melted staff on the ground.

Cyborg pulled up to the tin box, surprised that the frequency was gone. He called Starfire's communicator and her face flashed on the screen. "Star, you and Robin gotta get out. I'm here infront of the place. Did you get Slade?"

Starfire shook her head, glancing to Robin, who moving to get into view. "What's your location?" Robin demanded.

"Man! I don't know! I'm infront of the stupid thing. Just grab an oxygen tank from the back and when you see me I'll open your pods." Cyborg shook his head and closed the communicator, watching the box for movement.

Robin and Starfire hurried down the burnt corridors, Starfire closing her eyes when they passed Jet's body. They could hear the box collaspe, they started moving faster.

Finally they came upon a large, open cement room, filled with full oxygent tanks. Robin smiled and threw a bomb on one of the walls, water splashing like blood from wound.

"Hurry," he directed, giving Starfire an oxygen tank and getting one for himself. He pulled the shoulder straps on and attached the mouth piece, looking at Starfire. When she was done they headed for the large hole Robin had made, squeezing out one at a time.

--------------------xXx-----------------

"How are you going to reach her?" Beast Boy asked, looking at Raven as she stared at the moniters. "Isn't it dangerous?"

Raven didn't answer, but he knew she had heard him. She shrugged. "I'll be fine."

"Is there anyway I can come with you?"

Raven narrowed her eyes at him. "In case you haven't noticed, Beast Boy, you're _green_. They don't let anyone into Saphiria."

"Why would they let you?" Beast Boy asked now, trying to get a glimpse of Scorpio's lower back.

Raven let out an annoyed sigh. "Because...egh..."

He stopped asking, still trying to see some sign of a faint glowing from Scorpio. There was none. She was still asleep, not belonging to the world anymore, gone in a mist of her own make, belonging only to the 8th house.

He turned around to look out the window. It was now dark, maybe 6 or 7. He wondered where the rest of his teammates were. "When are you going to leave?" Beast Boy asked, still glued to the window.

"Now, maybe." Raven answered, putting the clip board down. "It takes a good hour to get there, and about another hour to get back..." She stopped, unsure if it was the best idea to leave him in the tower alone with a huge responsibility. "Can...can I trust you...to make sure she's OK, and to tell Robin what happened until I get back?"

Beast Boy turned from the window to face her, his face beaming. "Are you kidding me? Of course you can," he said, waving his hand at her. "What do I have to do?"

"If she wakes up, make sure she drinks a lot of water and keep her calm, so she doesn't transform. If Robin and the others come back before I do, tell them what happened and where I went, and if I take more than 4 hours to get back..." She stopped, unsure of what to tell him. If she were to die in Saphiria, no one would be able to come back for her. No one would know. "If I take more than 4 hours, tell Scorpio what happened. Otherwise don't mention anything to her, do you understand?"

Beast Boy nodded, his face still covered with a shocked smile that Raven had trusted him.

She turned to the door way. "Please, Beast Boy," she told him before she left," don't mess this up.

Raven turned the corridors until she reached her room, opening the door and grabbing the same Saphirian book she had showed the others hours after Scorpio's arrival. She sat cross legged on her bed, opening the book infront of her and sprinkling some of the orange powder of Aquarian dust she had grabbed from her night stand, reciting the first verse for entrance to Saphiria.

_"Cadoni, Cadoni, Cadoni endoconia,_

_Bedi rouh, bedi rouh alli Saphiria,_

_Cadoni, Cadoni, la youin ayoni..."_

She felt her atoms spilt, her face rushing against frictioned winds, her eyes bleeding from the insides. She knew she couldn't open them, she pierced them tight against each other, her face pinching. Hours passed what she felt in a minute. Finally the gust stopped, and Raven slowly opened her eyes...

The red and gold tall, solid gates of Saphiria were infront of her, many waiting at the entrance. She got up and looked about her, the people not noticing her hair color or eyes. She quikly put her hood on, turning away from the crowd of red heads and brunettes.

"Alright, then," said a gaurd from the gates' watch tower. "All of those who may be of Aries Nobility, part off to this side." He pointed to the left. "All of those under Cancerian decent, part off to this side here." He pointed to the right, his eyes not leaving the scroll. "All of those having any Scorpion prisoners for the Lord, please approach the West Gate, where you will be given 3 million shillings." He pointed behind him to where the West Gates were supposed to be. "Anyone else having any other decent, or of business with the monks, please come in through these gates."

The people scattered, each going in a different direction. As far as Raven could see, only 2 people had Scorpion prisoners. An old gypsy with a 7 year old, having dark eyes and hair, and a young man with a small boy, whom had the same color eyes and hair as the girl. The gypsy and the young man exchanged looks of happiness. 3 million shillings would set them for the rest of their lives.

Raven looked around her, pretending to go with those of Cancerian decent. She hid behind a crowd and pumpled herself into the ground in a puddle of black energy.

-----------------------xXx-----------------------

Cyborg saw Starfire and Robin come out from the mass of bubbles that was behind them. Starfire was trying to fly in the water, but it did no good. They both swam as far as they could go until Cyborg brought the T-sub next to them. Their pods opened and water filled them in. When they got in the pod covers closed, and the water was drained out of each pod. Robin shook his head from the water.

"What happened to Rae and BB?" Cyborg asked into his mouth piece.

"They're at the tower," Robin told him, pressing the buttons and directing the T-sub. "Scorpio's with them."

Cyborg nodded, not that either could see. The T-sub blasted from the collapsing box and out over the water, cutting through the air as it made its way to Titans Tower.

-------------------xXx-----------------------

**I know I promised something long, but my basement is really cold, so sorry. Many of my IM reviewers says that Raven is out of character. No, she's fine, in my opinion. If you think otherwise, submit a _real_ review.**


	23. Chapter 23: Witnesses

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, but I do own all of Saphiria. For that reason, I didn't forget to interview Nem for all of you crazed fans.**

**Me: So, Nem. May I call you Nem? Or do you prefer your full--**

**Nem: NO! Nem! Nem is fine...**

**Me: OK, Nem. In the fic, you have a friend named Kudio.**

**Nem: Yeah.**

**Me: Can you explain your relationship with Kudio?**

**Nem: -blushing- He's...my friend. He's a first term monk...at the convent next to mine.**

**Me: Can you go beyond that?**

**Nem: -still blushing- Can we change the subject, please?**

**Me: -annoyed- Fine fine... So, about Kudio...**

**Nem: That's the same subject! Change the subject!**

**Me: But I like this subject.**

**Nem: Well I don't, OK? How about we talk about something else, hmm?**

**Me: Fine! I don't remember making you so persistant...**

**Nem: Whatever...can I leave now? You're making me uncomfortable.**

**Me: Have you forgotten who's in charge? Me! I am your creator! Do you want to find Rella? Do you want Kudio to kiss you or not?**

**Yeah...Nem kinda transported her self out of that one... On with the Chapter!**

**Chapter 23: Witnesses**

Beast Boy stared blankly at Scorpio's back, unsure if she was awake or not. If she was, she wasn't showing any signs of it. And if she wasn't, at least she wouldn't notice him staring at her back, trying to catch any faint glowing. Raven had been gone for a full hour now. She turned to face him, her eyes closed. She was sleeping, but she was probably having some sort of dream. She didn't seem very comfortable.

She opened her eyes and squinted, looking at him through the dim light that was dawn. He froze.

"Where's Raven?" Scorpio asked, getting up and looking around the West Bay. "Wasn't she just here?"

"She um...she...she went to...get Robin. Yeah! Robin and Starfire...she went to get them..." He got up and handed her a glass of water. "Before she left she said you had to drink a lot of water."

She took the water and drank it against her will. Her throat was dry but she didn't feel like drinking. After what had just happened she felt like leaving to somewhere and never coming back. "You're the worst liar in the world, you know that?" She said, eyeing him playfully.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're the worst liar in the world. Worse than Nem." She set the half empty glass down and stretched her arms above her head, noticing her stare. "We still have to get that curse off of you," she stated impatiently. "Before I leave."

He got off his chair and stood infront of the bed. "We can't do it either way, remember?" He asked, still admiring her skin under dawn's light. "And where are you going?"

"We can do it now," she said.

His heart jumped. What did she mean? Had she grown to like him? A smile tugged at his mouth but he kept looking at her, still confused. "What do you mean?" He asked, speaking his mind.

"I mean that now we have a Saphirian herb. See?" She pointed to the night stand where a small bowl of orange powder was sitting, and next to it, a jar of Sagittarius Root. "Grab that jar."

His heart sank at her answer, reaching for the jar and handing it to her.

"This," she said while opening the jar, "is the nastiest stuff you're ever going to eat." A faint smell of vomit escaped the confines of the jar and into his nose, making him want to run out of the room for fresh air. They both wrinkled their nose at the smell and she looked at him, getting out of bed. She walked up to him and stood infront of him, smiling just a bit and blushing right over her cheeks. "Here's what I want you to do," she told him, handing him the jar and turning around so her back would face him. "I assume you know the curse?"

He remembered the curse, the horrible gypsy that came in his dreams and hers, mocking them with her words. "Yeah."

"Ok...um..." she squirmed uncomfortably in her spot, looking for words that would describe what they would do and trying to get used to her still tired legs. "When you eat one of those roots, look at my back. When you see...like a faint red glow, recite the curse as best you can. Got it?"

She felt his stare and he managed a "yes". He braced himself.

"Ready?" She asked from over her shoulder.

"...Ready..." He answered, slipping the shortest strand of the foul root he could find. He put it in his mouth and chewed, growing dizzier as he did. The world tilted and he fell on the bed, still pushing himself into a sitting position and facing Scorpio's back. It started to glow in scarlet, but he couldn't remember anything.

_"Beast Boy? Beast Boy, you have to say the curse? Can you remember it? Beast Boy?" _It was Scorpio's voice. Why did she seem so far away. He was drifting...the only thing he could see was that scarlet color, her reached for it, wanting to pull it closer. He felt it, warm and inviting in his hands...

"_Beast Boy! Stop! Don't!" _The color drifted away, the world wouldn't stop spinning. Why wouldn't it stop spinning? Where was that drawing color going? Where was Scorpio? He felt himself fall again...

Scorpio had moved away and turned around, looking at Beast Boy. He had fallen backward on the bed, his eyes closed and his face expressionless, his body sober. She bit her lower lip, beating the Scorpion inside of her who wanted to lunge at him while he was vulnerable. He quikly closed the jar and opened the door and a small part of the window to air the room out.

_Oh my God..._

_---------------------_xXx-----------------

Robin, Starfire and Cyborg landed on the roof of Titans Tower, all of them getting out of their pods and stretching at the thin light that was morning. They were all tired and beaten, especially Robin. Slade and his last apprentice had gotten away, a major threat to the city.

They walked toward the hallway door without saying anything, they were all too tired to. It was November 3, and the wind chill was high. The last thing they wanted to do was hold a conversation in the cold air.

--------------------xXx------------------------

Nem got up and blushed at Kudio, and though the light was dark, she knew he was red. She moved away, sorry that he had gotten the best of her at her time of weakness.

"We should probably go inside--" she began.

"Not together. You know Sister Mya will get the wrong idea." He smiled at the darkness of the pond. "You want to see a trick?"

"OK..."

Kudio moved up next to the water and knocked his fists together. Thin ribbons of water came out of the pond like steam and surrounded him like a ball, moving faster and faster until she couldn't see him anymore. The ball vanished and so did Kudio.

Nem smiled. It was nothing new. The monks always got better moves than the nuns did, and she wasn't even a "real" nun yet anyway, so it didn't matter. She walked inside and up to her room.

Luckily no one had heard her or seen her, and the usually spying Sister Mya had gone to sleep long before. Nem looked around her room. The same 2 beds. The same window. The same desk. The same drawers. The same everything. She took off her cloak and changed into her pajamas, plopping down on Rella's old bed.

She smelled the pillow, holding it closer to her face. How much she missed her, she would never know. Her Scorpion sister could have been dead, and here she was, trying to look for her in her old pillow, which now no longer even held her smell. She couldn't go to Azarath, she didn't know how. She would have to wait...wait and wait and wait...

Suddenly a black aura covered her own bed, and out of it came a tall, pale girl with purple eyes and a blue cape, staring at Nem in a sudden silence.

-------------------xXx----------------------

Here was Nem, infront of Raven, eyeing her like a deer in headlights. Her long hazle hair spilled about the bed and her eyes huge in fright. Raven decided to begin.

"Your sister needs you," she began, looking for the right words. Raven had no patience for those younger than her, and Nem was but 12.

"What..? How do you know my sister?" Nem asked her quietly, getting up from her position and sitting on the side of the bed. "Who are you?"

There it was. See? Raven had known. A 12 year old, of course, asking basic questions that Raven did not have time to answer.

"Your sister, Rella, needs you. She came to our dimension a while back, and I'm one of her friends. Do you want to come with me or not?" Raven rolled her eyes to the low ceiling, expecting more questions to be fired.

"How did you get in here?" Nem asked anxiously, eyeing Raven's chakra. "Are you of Azarath?"

_Here we go..._ "You're going to have to trust me," Raven said hastily, holding out her hand. "We don't have time for an interview, we have to leave now." Raven paused and looked at Nem, who had her hands crossed over her chest. "Do you want to see your sister or not?"

Nem's eye brows floated up toward her forehead and her lip trembled. _YES! YES! I want to see my sister more than anything in the world, and know that she's OK! _

Raven heard her thoughts. "Then you're going to have to come with me." Nem took her hand and shook it.

Nem didn't ask anymore questions. She got up and pulled her blue cloak over her pajamas and stood infront of Raven.

A black mist covered her surrounds and blinded Nem.

----------------------xXx-----------------------

There was no light, nothing but darkness and fog. Nothing but a vague eternity and a tinted cloud. Nothing. He couldn't feel his legs or arms, he couldn't feel anything but his own weight in a sea of sky...

_"Beast Boy...please...I'm so sorry. This is all my fault! I'm so stupid! Oh my God, please Beast Boy, get up..."_

He wanted to die, really. Nothing meant anything to him anymore, and that voice...it sounded so familiar. Words came to his mouth and took over. He did not protest.

"Shall beyond the hottest fire,

Go beyond the heart's desire,

To please respect and account his sire.

Shining armor thou shall ark,

And follow thou's love through blind dark,

Once set eyes on a Scorpion's mark..."

Scorpio heard him, her eyes lit. He opened his eyes carefully, not knowing what had just happened, and why Scorpio was in tears next to him, holding his gloved hand and smiling hopefully.

"Are you feeling OK?" She asked him, heading for the glass of water that he had first handed her. "I'm so sorry, I'm such an idiot..."

"What happened?" He asked, refusing the water and looking at their hands.

"It's my fault." She grasped his hand tighter. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think that Sagittarius Root would do something so...extreme. You only had one..." She shook her head and looked at him, her cheeks stained with tears. "I thought I lost you..." She added quietly.

His head returned to him, the memory of what had happened and the fact that he no longer thought about seeing her mark. He thought about what she had just said, realizing she had worried about him. He smiled. "Is the curse gone?"

Scorpio nodded, wiping her tired eyes. "Yes. Gone forever."

"And I'll be OK?"

"You should be fine."

He smiled again, feeling her hand in his. The curse was not the problem. He had not wanted to save her because of the mark. He had wanted to save her because he had worried for her, as she had just worried for him now. He gripped her hand a bit tighter, and it brought her back to the universe, breaking their gaze and slipping her hand away in a swift motion.

"You want something?" She asked, her face crimson. "Tea, anything?"

Disappointed he shook his head and looked out the window.

--------------------------xXx-------------------------

**. This chapter took so long. I don't know why it did. It just did. OK. I can't promise anything longer for the next, unfortunatly. Remember to review!**


	24. Chapter 24: Coming Home

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. And, even more sadly, I ran out of clever remarks to place in my disclaimer.**

**Chapter 24: Coming Home**

Nem could hear the cold girl's voice, she hadn't told Nem her name. All she knew was that this girl, no matter who or what she was, knew Rella and could take her to her beloved sister.

_Don't open your eyes, no matter what! _There was a voice, telling her what to do in her mind. It must have been the empath.

The wind around them shattered, voices and laughs and ringing whips echoed in Nem's ears, until finally the darkness evaded and Nem could feel her weight on a red carpet.

-----------------xXx-----------------

Raven had been gone for about 2 hours now, and Beast Boy had gotten up and offered that Scorpio rest. Though she hated people insisting she do things, she had taken his offer and asked him to go and get her journal. Beast Boy had obeyed, hoping that Raven had left it open.

He turned the corridors and walked up to Raven's closed door. Scorpio's journal would have to be in there. Where else? He transformed into a bug and squirmed under the door, transforming into a human on the other side.

He looked around cautiously, eyeing Raven's cloak on the floor. He blushed at the sight, unsure that Raven would even mess up her room. Looking at the bottom of her bed, he spotted the brown leather book with the shining red metal lock. He beamed and reached for it, sighing when he saw that Raven had locked it.

Rushing out of the door and closing it behind him, he ran to the main room to grab some water for Scorpio when he saw that the rest of the Titans, spilled about the room, bathing in the glow of dawn.

Robin caught Beast Boy's eye. "Where's Raven?" He asked sternly, his face tired. "And where's Scorpio?"

"Scorpio's in the West Bay," Beast Boy replied, heading for the sink. "And Raven...um...Raven..." He froze. Scorpio might over hear him, and he knew Robin wouldn't like the fact that Raven was traveling from dimension to dimension trying to help Scorpio's emotions. Robin hated Scorpio as it was.

"Where's Raven?" Robin pressed.

Beast Boy looked at him, usure of what to say. "She...she...went..." _You're the worst liar in the world, you know that? _"She...um...she went to...to get..."

He didn't need to say anything more. There in the main room, right infront of the big screen TV, a black misted aura came out of the floor, taking shape into a raven. It vanished leaving 2 hooded figures hunched on the floor.

The Titans recognized the bigger as Raven, whom stood up instantly and rushed to the other figure's side, helping her up and lifting her hood to reveil a small and pale face.

"Raven..." Robin began, but he didn't know what to ask.

The pale faced girl stood up slowly, adjusting her blue eyes to the light of the room. Her fair hazel hair spilled about her shoulders and back. She winced, and then pulled her fists to her stomach, swallowing and groaning. "Where's...Rella...?"

Raven pulled her up and placed her on the couch, eyeing the questioning Robin. "Are you OK?" Raven asked.

"Fine!" The girl shouted through clenched teeth, pulling herself up. "Where's Rella? You said I could see Rella!"

Raven tightened her fists at the her remark. She really did have no patience for those younger, and the persisting questions of this girl were driving Raven's rage to seep through her pores.

"She's in here!" Beast Boy calmed, grabbing the girl by the arm and leading her into the West Bay. "Come on."

As Beast Boy led the girl, Raven just plopped down on the couch, feeling the stare of her friends. She wouldn't give them any information, only if asked, and maybe not even then.

"You mind explaining any of this, Raven?" Robin asked angerly, staring at Raven through eyes of broken orders. First she had gone against his wishes by bringing Scorpio and Beast Boy to the tower, and now she had brought some girl from Saphiria to see Scorpio, again without his permission. He was the leader, he would decide...

She read his thoughts. "I don't have to listen to anyone, Robin," she stated plainly, staring back with just as much force, tired from her trip. "And I don't really feel like explaining any thing." She crossed her arms and legs, her eyes smirking at how much he wanted to know more about her.

"Please, Raven. Who was the girl who wished to see this...Rella?" Starfire had flew to Robin's side, eyeing the empath and holding her arms to her chest.

Raven paused, disgusted. If anyone could make her say anything, it was Starfire. Her pleading eyes and her innocence, all of it so fragile. "It was Scorpio's sister," she added coldly. "Rella is Scorpio's Saphirian name..." She wanted to explain more, but why should she? It was not their place to interfer with Saphirian matters anyway.

She got up and left the room.

--------------------------xXx-----------------------

Nem followed the green boy...she hoped it was a boy. It _looked_ like a boy, but its color..._that_ color...it just didn't seem natural for anything to have skin so vivid as his. He barged into an open door, coming in before her.

And then Nem saw what she had wanted to see for a year. Her sister, standing next to the wall sized window, her face as expressionless as it always was, her eyes stained with memory.

"Rella! Rella!" Nem pushed the green boy out of her way and ran to her standing sister, whose face lit and smile beamed when she saw her.

"Nem!" Scorpio took her sister in her arms and held her tight. "Oh Nem...my dear, sweet Nem...I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry, sorry..."

She didn't want to let go, an eternity could pass by and Nem wouldn't let go of her sister. Tears came to her naturally, and the faint mark that had began to show between her breasts now glowed in a full, vivid blue color. "I've missed you so much, Rella. And don't apologize...you've done nothing wrong..." Her voice cracked at the words. In her moment of disbelief she had forgotten how sour and emotionless her sister could be to her sometimes. It wouldn't matter now. They were reunited, they had each other.

Finally Scorpio broke their embrace and looked at Beast Boy, who smiled shyly and left the room to the sisters.

"Nem! You've gotten your mark!" She exclaimed, looking at the blue light, which had began to fade. "Since when?"

Nem shrugged and lunged toward her sister again. It was like Rella to break their embraces, but it didn't matter anymore to her. "I've missed you so much Rella. You have no idea..."

Scorpio broke the hug again, letting her sister settle in the West Bay bed. "How's Kudio?" She asked, staring at the orange sky.

"Fine," Nem gestured. "He's a first term now."

Scorpio nodded at the words. "I knew he'd go far..."

"Is Jet here?" Nem asked excitingly, remembering that Jet would do anything for her sister. Following her into a different realm would be no acception.

Scorpio squirmed in her spot, not sure of how to break the news to Nem, who had a weak heart to begin with. "He..._was_ here..."

"Did he leave?"

"No, Nem..." Scorpio sighed at her own lies. How would she tell her? How would she react. "He died, Nem. He died about a day ago."

Nem's eyes grew wide at the remark, her mouth parting and her eyes watering. She could feel a prominent lump in her throat, something that wanted to come up but could not. "W-what...?"

"He died, Nem. And to say the truth, I'm happy about it." Scorpio felt her temper boil beneth her skin. Jet's smile, his mark, the way he loved her, in his sick and twisted ways... "He was a sick bastard!" She exploded. "I hated him! I'm glad he's gone!"

Nem just stared at her. Now that Jet was gone there didn't seem like a way out for her sister. Their main plan for the rest of their lives had always been that Rella would marry Jet and that Nem would marry Kudio, and that they would live in Tavis where the Libran Lord could not touch them. Now that Jet was gone all hopes seemed to follow him. "But...how? Who killed him?"

_Nem and her questions..._"He killed himself. And it's like I told you, I'm happy about it."

That was her sister. Cold and unfeeling on the surface but deep and guilty on the inside. Many didn't know her. Many thought that she was just blank and unmoving, that she was just mean. But she only did it to cover what she didn't want on the inside, her Scorpion soul. "We have to go back. Now. You can't stay here, Rella." Nem got up and put her hand on her sisters shoulder. "You know you can't stay in one place. You know that it's dangerous." Nem's face hardened.

"I know." Scorpio replyed, broken. "I know."

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	25. Chapter 25: Leaving

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. And, even more sadly, I ran out of clever remarks to place in my disclaimer. This is the SECOND to last Chapter. Sorry for the mix up!**

**Chapter 25: Leaving**

Beast Boy pulled his ear away from the door. Yeah, he had been listening. So? He wanted to know what Nem had to say, and why Scorpio didn't want him hearing it. Where were they going? Why couldn't Scorpio stay?

He was sad now, but more angry. Before Nem had come along, everything was great. She had destroyed it! And even worse, Scorpio knew that she had to leave. She sounded as if she knew it all along.

He pulled himself away from their drawing conversation and looked at the journal between his hands. He didn't want to listen anymore.

---------------xXx----------------

Cyborg and Starfire had started up the Gamestation, even though they were both tired. Still the score was left untouched, with Starfire in the lead. Robin had gotten some coffee and was sipping it silently to himself, wondering more about Raven.

"Let it go, man," Cyborg calmed from the couch. "You know Raven. She'll tell us whatever she wants to tell us and then the rest she leaves to our imaginations."

"True, Robin," Starfire agreed, tapping on the controller. "Raven is complicated...it is not our place to annoy her with our questions."

He didn't answer. If anyone, Starfire could get Raven to spill anything. Raven had shunned Terra and never trusted anyone beyond the tower. Scorpio had come only about a month before and now she knew more about Raven than he ever would.

Beast Boy walked into the living room, grabbing some tofu and a pan, making only a individual sized meal. No one bothered him, and even Cyborg kept his tofu comments to himself.

------------------------xXx---------------------

"If we are to leave," Scorpio continued, "we are not going back to those damned convents."

Nem, shocked and unready for this news, beaded her eyes. "What? Of course we are. It's where we are from. Your friend can get us back and forth easily. She--"

"No!" Her sister raged, right to her face. "I'm not going back, nothing you can do can change that. I am the older, I will decide. If you want to go back and marry Kudio, you can. I have no life there. I never did."

Nem's lip trembled. "You will always have a life there, Rella," she said quietly. "Even without Jet you are my sister, and you will always be with me. We have each other, we don't need any one else."

Scorpio looked her in the eyes, the blue eyes filled with Nem's cover up stories. She wanted to marry Kudio. After his fourth term 3 years from now he'll be free to do what he wants, and by that time she'll have a choice whether or not to join the convents or marry him. Scorpio could see right through the act. As soon as she would marry Kudio she would leave her, and without Nem, the convent would sell Scorpio off to the Libran Lord for shillings. "It's like I told you. You can go back and marry Kudio. I'm not going any where near Saphiria."

Nem hardened and stood straight. "Who said I even want to marry Kudio? What if I don't? I've waited so long to see you, Rella. The least you can do is show some sort of affection towards me for once! Even if you don't go back, they'll come looking for you."

"I don't care!" Scorpio hissed.

"You'll put your new friends in danger!"

"I want to be free!"

"You'll never be free! You are a Scorpion! Always have been and always will be." Nem bit her lip.

Scorpio looked at her. The shrill vibrating of her eyes following Nem's mind. She had said it. She had noticed. All these years, though Scorpio thought that she was different, she had noticed. She had known. And now she was reciting the truth. The horrible truth that no one could escape from.

"I know what I am," her sister said loudly, covering her tears. "I know that I'm different and I know I can't escape that. But here, here on Earth, I have a chance. In Saphiria, I will never grow to my potential. You, of all people, Nem, should be happy that your sister found a place where she belongs." Her words hit Nem like scorpion venom. "I'm not going back."

Nem didn't know what to say. What could she say? Now, of all moments, would be the worst time to mention that Scorpions were being sold left and right, and that many had been abused and killed in the streets. With Rella's black hair flag, people would be all over her.

"What are you to do?" Nem asked quietly, wishing she could take back what she had said. "You have no where else to go."

"I have the sky, I have Earth, I have the Titans. Where ever I decide to go, it will always be on Earth. This is the only place where I won't be disturbed, Nem. Where I can be free."

Nem couldn't tell her that they would look for her, but Nem couldn't stay on Earth. She had a future waiting for her back in Saphiria, a life with Kudio in Tavis. Even without her beloved sister, she would have to fend for herself.

"But you'll die..."

"No, I won't. I promise."

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Nem lunged toward her and hugged her as tight as she thought possible, sobbing silently to herself. "Promise me, then," she continued, "that we'll always be sisters, and that you'll always be with me, no matter what. And that you'll visit."

Scorpio shuddered at the word "visit" but she nodded her head on Nem's delicate shoulder. "I'll try..."

"No! Please, Rella. Promise me. I don't know what I'd do without you..."

"Fine, Nem. I promise."

Scorpio broke the embrace and smiled at her teary sister. "I guess we better get you back before morning, huh?"

Nem nodded.

"OK. Come on then."

They walked out of the room to find Raven.

-------------------------------------xXx--------------------------------------

Raven had went to her room, trying to avoid Robin's blunt staring. Right now, she couldn't stand him. She had tryed to fix up the room, pulling her cloak and shoes off the floor and moving the Aquiran birch from her bed. She had seen Beast Boy with the journal when she had brought Nem, and she was sure that he had left it with Scorpio. But what if he hadn't? What if he was opening it right now?

She shook the thought from her head, settling into her meditating postition. She hadn't meditated for a long time...

There was a loud knocking on the door, a hollow echo that filtered the room. Startled she got up and placed her hood on, sure it was Robin.

But it wasn't. Scorpio and Nem were standing infront of her, Scorpio smiling slightly and Nem teary.

"Can I talk to you?" Scorpio asked, glancing at her whimpering sister.

Raven respected Scorpio, Scorpio respected Raven. And when they weren't having any mood swings or off beat days, they were usually fine together. But now, _today_, catching Scorpio actually wanting to talk was usually odd. "Yeah...is something wrong?" Raven asked, closing the door behind her.

"No, really. We're...um...in need of your...help..." She rolled her eyes at the fact that she sounded a bit like Starfire.

The group went over to the West Bay, which was still close by. Nem plopped down on the bed and stared out the window, avoiding Raven. Raven lifted an eyebrow and sat on a chair next to the door.

"I can't stay," Scorpio blurted out as she started to pace the floor. "Not here, not now, not ever. They'll come looking for me, and I can't put you guys in danger any more. I can't put Nem in danger either. She has to get back to Saphiria, Raven. And I have to leave Titans Tower." She stopped pacing and looked at the empath. "Can you help?"

The first portion of the speech had been bad enough. The news struck Raven like bleating rain on a windy day. She wanted to _leave?_ And Nem wasn't coming with her? Raven's concern for her friend over took her and she blurted out a "What?"

"I can't stay, Raven. As much as I want to, I can't put your city in danger." Scorpio didn't want to put anyone in danger. With the Libran Lord after her, she couldn't stay one place for long.

"But you can't leave. Not now. Your powers are fine, and Robin's OK with you staying..." _Stop! Why do I even care?_ She couldn't hide it. She knew she would miss her, the early days of waking up in the morning with the sun directly overhead, Scorpio's daily meditating whine. The fact that she always made breakfast and cleaned the tower. She would miss all of it. But most of all she would miss having someone to talk to, someone she could actually relate to.

"I'm sorry, Raven. You've already helped me so much...and I feel awful having to ask you to take Nem back, and then leaving you guys. But it's not in my control. I want what's best for the city." Scorpio could feel her tears rising, but they settled. As long as Raven wouldn't cry, she wouldn't either. No matter how much she wanted to.

Raven nodded, and without thinking a black aura covered her hood and moved it up over her forehead. "Come on then," she gestured to the 2 of them, leading them back to her room.

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**The next chapter will be the last, I promise. I hope, anyway. I had to end it, as much as I didn't want to. When it's over, look for the sequal! **


	26. Chapter 26: The Final Chapter

**Disclaimer: You know what? I've been writing in this fic for a while. You guys know as well as I do that I don't own TT, why make me feel worse about it by putting in a disclaimer? And, even worse, this is the last chapter.**

**Chapter 26: The Final Chapter**

Scorpio knew why Raven had pulled her hood up, it was easy. Obviously her emotions were getting the better of her and she was trying to hide what she didn't want to be seen. Even Scorpio didn't want to cry, to flow out what she was feeling inside. But she knew that it was for the best, if she did. She would miss them all, especially Raven.

When they got to the door Raven punched in the code and the doors hissed open. She entered and the sisters followed.

"There are 2 ways we can take her back," Raven told Scorpio, still not looking at her eyes. "The first way would be me taking her back, which would take longer...or sending her back on her own, which would cut the time a lot."

Nem hated being alone, unlike her sister, who lived for it. "What do you want to do Nem?" Scorpio asked.

"The second way," Nem said quickly. She wasn't fund of this girl. Raven, was it? She was too unmoving, too dark and mysterious. Maybe that was why Nem could not relate to her own sister, who was just the same.

Raven hardened her eye brows and pushed herself to look at Scorpio. "If we do it the second way, it'll open a portal...and that would mean that anyone could come through. That would mean that you...you have to...to _leave_ today..." Her throat choked at the words but she spit them out anyway, clearing her throat and pretending that she had merely swallowed something. "Are...you sure?"

"I'm not sure about any of this, Raven." Scorpio said, speaking her mind. "But Nem has to get back and I've got to get out of here. What time is it?"

"About 3," Raven said, glancing slightly at Nem, who was staring at the darkened room. Scorpio didn't have a problem with it. She didn't see why Nem had to be so...so... Starfire like...

"If I start getting my things together now, then I'll be able to leave at the same time Nem will. That way if anything comes through, I won't be here and who ever comes will leave you guys alone." She didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay next to her friends forever. But she knew...she knew.

Raven nodded, once again fighting the birth of tears. "Do you need any help?" She choked.

"I just need someone to tell the others...could you, Raven? I don't know how to say it." Scorpio's tears wouldn't stay locked up forever, and she could feel them start to fall. She swallowed. "I should probably start..."

And with that she left the room, Nem trailing behind her.

------------------------xXx---------------------------

Robin was now sitting on the couch next to Beast Boy and Cyborg. Starfire was making some sort of food that smelled like Beast Boy's room. They were playing with 3 controllers, and Cyborg was winning.

The doors hissed behind them and Raven emerged, her hood still up. She walked to the kitchen area, her hands shaking slightly. "Guys..."

They wouldn't listen, still they stared at the screen, their lips parted and their eyes unmoving. Raven clenched her fist.

"Guys! Hey!" They turned to her, the screen blinking "PAUSE"

"What is it Rae?" Cyborg asked.

Her fist clenched tighter at his words. Her name was not "Rae", it was "Raven". If she wanted to shorten it up she'd get it changed. Trying to ignore the remark she continued.

"Scorpio...Scorpio has...has to...leave...today. She's getting her things ready right now."

"What? Where is she going?" Robin asked, throwing his controller to the ground.

"I don't know. She has to leave. Some one is after her and she can't stay in the city." Raven had gotten a better control over herself. Still it was hard. One of her friends, one of her closest friends, the only one who could understand...

"Raven, are you OK?" It was Robin's voice. She looked up.

"Please Raven, explain. Our friend Scorpio is leaving the tower and not coming back?" Starfire had stopped cooking and now looked at her dark friend, her vioce hopeful. Maybe she had understood wrong.

"Yes, Starfire. She has to leave, today. And her sister has to leave too."

Starfire wanted to ask more, but she knew that she could not. Raven withdrew her hood, showing her slightly pink eyes. They hadn't let her tears escape. She would not let them.

Robin, Cyborg and Starfire seemed shocked and upset at the news, but Beast Boy did not seem affected. He put his controller on the ground and made his way to Scorpio's room.

--------------------xXx--------------------

He knocked on the door twice lightly. Still no answer. He hardened his fist and struck the door again, as hard as he could. The echo of the knock evapurated and Scorpio slid the door open, looking at Beast Boy with watery eyes.

"Can I come in?" He asked.

She nodded and walked past her, looking at the back pack on the bed, stuffed with clothes and maps, and her journal, which he had slid under the door.

"Why can't you stay?" He blurted, his eyes hot. "Why do you have to leave!"

She shook her head. "They'll come for me. I can't put your city in danger again."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "That's no good excuse, Scorpio. You can't leave. Not now. You just got here."

She looked up at him, her tears sprinting down her red cheeks, amazed she had let herself cry. "I have no choice."

"Well...I'll miss you..." He said quietly, moving towards her.

"I--I'll miss you too."

------------------------------xXx-------------------------------

_November 14, Year 15_

_Journal,_

_Right now I'm under some train station hood, watching a train depart. I forgot to tell you about my last day at Titans Tower, so I will now._

_First of all, it will always be the day I'll never forget.For once, I figured out that some people actually love me for who I am, not what I am._

_It was my last day there, and Nem was with me. Raven had brought her from Saphiria to comfort me. I'll never forget Raven, either. She offered us 2 ways to get Nem back, and Nem choose the portal method. So I had to leave the same day Nem did. I guess it was meant to be that way._

_I asked Raven to tell the other Titans because I was horrible with giving bad news, so she did. I went to my room and Nem went to the West Bay for a little nap before she left. I started packing and then I heard a knock on the door._

_When I opened it, there was Beast Boy, giving me reasons that I should stay and that he would miss me. I told him I would miss him too. But then he did something odd, starting to flatter me in everyway possible._

_"I'm going to miss your smile, and your eyes, and the way you took care of us..."_

_He kept rambling on like that for a good 4 minutes, until I told him that I really couldn't stay, no matter what. It saddened him, but then he moved closer, wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pressed his lips to mine._

_I want to say that I didn't enjoy it, that it was something like rape or something...but it wasn't. And still, journal, still I am loaded with the guilty pleasure of his touch, his arms moving down to my waist and pulling me closer...tempting me with arms...And I, journal...I wrapped my arms around him too, resting them on his shoulders.I'll never forget it. I'll never forget him. He was not under my curse any longer. What he did he did of free will._

_We could've stayed like that forever, Beast Boy and I, locked within our embrace. But dreams don't last forever, journal. And after only a wonderful minute, Nem was in the door way, giggling as loud as possible._

_We jumped away from each other, each of us red and embarrassed, thanks to Nem. Beast Boy left the room to my dismay. I wanted him to stay with me, but I knew it couldn't happen. At the door way he turned to face me and winked. _

_"Jeez, Rella. I leave you alone for a minute and this is what happens?"_

_Half an hour later, Raven came and the portal sucked Nem back to Saphira, just as I left. And I cried, journal, and so did Raven._

_Still, though I miss them with all of my heart, I know that I am free. Free of my curse and my ways. Free of the 8th house. Free of the City of the Scorpion._

**I'm so sorry that it's over. But I think I did a pretty good job with the kiss there, just saying. Look out for the sequal, and thanks for reading. I love you guys so much!**

**Scorpiored112**


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